Unexpected
by MaggieFrost
Summary: Weird things happen when your friends take it upon themselves to fix your non-exitant love life. However who is to say that the weirdest things aren't the things that in the end will provide you with the most joy?
1. Chapter 1

Unexpected

"Is it just me or is Jett McCleary getting hotter?" Mac said as she sat down on the couch in between Wallace and Veronica. Wallace – who was leaning forward to grab a slice of pizza from the greasy brown box from "Cho's Pizza" looked from the television to Mac and then to Veronica who held the same puzzled look. It took a few seconds for the laughter lines to appear on their respective faces but once the Veronica broke Wallace was practically rolling around on the floor

"You certainly would be the only one in the Neptune area to think that" Veronica said as she wiped a tear from her cheek

"What? He isn't as rotund as he used to be and the hair plugs really give him a more youthful look" Mac referred to the advertisement for the used car salesman, her cheeks blushed slightly but she couldn't help but smile at the clear enjoyment her two closest friends were getting out of her embarrassment

"Are you feeling okay Mac?" Wallace said as he gained him composure but maintained his smile

"So Jett McCleary isn't getting sexier?" she asked with a sulk as they both shook their heads in her direction "My Gosh I need to get laid"

"How longs it been?" Veronica asked as she took a sip from her beer, leaning forward to meet Mac's eye

"I don't think my impressionable ears need to hear this," said Wallace with a sigh

"Awww Wally, don't pretend that you aren't one of the girls," she said with a large grin as both she and Mac looked towards him, he put his hands up in mock surrender and Veronica fixated her attention back on Mac "So how long has it been?"

"Nine months" she said throwing herself back on the couch as Veronica whistled

"That's enough time to brew a baby"

"That requires sex," Wallace said before Mac kicked him and sent his mouthful of beer spraying out of his mouth

"Pass me another beer," she said throwing her arm out in the hopes that one of her friends would fulfil her request.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"What have you got for me Mac-Attack?" Veronica said as she walked into Mars Investigations with a tray of coffees in one hand and an unidentified paper bag in the other that Mac hoped was some form of donut, Veronica seeing Mac's longing look at the bag threw it in her direction as she walked towards the desk in the lobby that Mac was currently occupying

"Mr Peblow has been sending rather risqué emails, so risqué that I blush just thinking about it" she smiled as Veronica sat down in front of her "I also found a very questionable browser history, something Mrs Peblow would NOT be happy with"

"Gooooooood" Veronica said as she put her feet up on the desk "You can pick up the security detail after lunch"

"Lunch?" Mac asked stuffing her face with donuts "I don't need lunch, I have no plans other than eating this whole bag of donuts" Veronica snatched the bag out of Mac's grasp

"Well you do now" she tried not to laugh at the perplexed look on her best friends face as she wiped the white donut powder from the corners of her mouth

"Is this for a case?" she asked excited by the idea of getting out into the field and kicking some serious ass

"You could say that" Veronica tried to work out how to keep as much detail as possible from Mac "Come on let's go" Mac jumped up from her desk, grabbing her laptop and her coat and chasing after Veronica.

"So tell me more about this case" she said as she strapped herself into the convertible that Veronica was borrowing from Logan while he was on tour, she knew that it had been a bad idea to trust Veronica when the doors locked around her "Uhmm What's going on?"

"So when I say case I kind of mean mission" she said as she turned out of the parking complex and onto the road

"Veronica, why do I feel like you are going to take me into the wild and abandon me there?"

"If you play your cards right I wont have to" Mac let out an unsettled laugh

"What's the mission?" she was almost too anxious to ask, this wasn't a regular Veronica Mars mission and she knew it

"Getting you laid Cindy Mackenzie" as the words left Veronica's mouth a panic Mac tried her hardest to get out the emergency exits "Trying to Escape is futile"

"What have you done?" Mac asked realising that this wasn't just your run of the mill car trip "are you taking me to a gigolo?"

"I wanted something with a bit more substance for you Mac, whilst the rock hard abs of hired help would probably satisfy your physical needs it wouldn't be able to satisfy your psychological needs"

"Are you saying I have psychological needs? Are you implying that I'm not as put together as I seem?" Veronica laughed "But seriously Veronica what have you done?"

"I may have set you up a little profile on a very reputable dating website" Mac groaned rather loudly "You've gotten a tonne of hits"

"When?"

"I set it up while you and Wallace were having a dance off in my living room on pizza night" Mac thought back to that night and regretted not confronting Veronica on her bashful smile and giggle as she typed away on her laptop, she had just assumed that the tiny blonde was busy writing the love of her life man of the sea an email.

"Puhlease let me out of this car" she said throwing her bag on the floor and stamping her feet like a toddler throwing a tantrum

"Not until you get laid"

"I don't see that happening in this car" she put her head in her hands "How do you know that you aren't setting me up with some murderer?"

"I put some research into it, made sure there was no open cases associated with it and that if something did happen that we already knew how to get in so that we had quick leads" she said as she pulled into a park out the front of one of Mac's favourite café's "Now get out of the car"

"Please Veronica I will do anything, don't make me do this"

"How quickly you turned to bargaining" a glint of hope appeared in Mac's eyes, she wondered if this had just been a ploy to get her to agree to do overtime or go undercover "But seriously pull yourself together, it's just a quick coffee date, you never know he might be the love of your life and if not you can just have a quickie in the bathroom" Mac looked outraged but also sort of amused

"Veronica Mars are you reflecting your own sexual frustration onto me?"

"Of course I am!" she said turning her full body to face "The love of my life is at sea and will be for at least another three months, I may not be finding myself attracted to used car salesmen but its getting there. Now get out of my car and do what I cant do for the next couple of months" Mac realised that there was no use in arguing with her clearly irrational friend and agreed to get out of the car. Veronica passed her the information of the "lucky bachelor" that Mac was minutes away from meeting, told her that her phone would vibrate when the mystery man was within distance, wished her luck and drove off into the distance.

Mac made her way into the café and selected a table at the back with a good view of the front door so that she could get a glimpse of this guy before he got a glimpse of her. She couldn't take the wait; Mac grabbed her laptop from her bag and began to type the mystery man's name into every data base that she could possibly think of. His profile said that he loved the beach and the outdoors and was looking forward to spending his life with a woman that was willing to spend a lifetime relaxing with him. The weird thing was that his name was pinging back at her and taking her in a direction that she wasn't expecting – his bank account checked out but his name was not appearing on the statement. Time was ticking away and this guy was supposed to be here but she wasn't ready – she just need one more minute to get the name off the bank statement – there was no way she was going to go into this date unprepared.

As the bell over the front door rang out indicating that a new customer was entering the store her laptop beeped in front of her, the information left her perplexed and staring at the screen for longer than she anticipated, she gulped "Dick Casablancas"

"At your service Ghost World" he said as he plonked down in the seat in front of her a smile spread across his face

"What are you doing here?" she asked trying to hide her uncomfortableness

"I do believe that we have a date"

"I do believe that I am leaving," she said going to stand up but he grabbed her forearm

"That's not going to be good for your score on "

"I don't even care, this was Veronica's stupid idea" Dick let out a hysterical laugh "What?"

"I can just imagine Ronnie's face when she realises that she set you up on a date with the Dickster" Mac was trying hard to supress a laugh, this was the perfect outcome in the sense that there was no way that Veronica was ever going to set her up again but something was striking her as odd

"Why are you on a dating website?" his eyes made it pretty clear that he wasn't going to answer her questions until she sat down – she obliged – Veronica was never going to believe the story if Mac didn't have explicit details.

"To get laid. Simple as that" he gestured over to the wait staff and the nod between Dick and the Waitress indicated that this was his regular café as well, it was kind of surprising that she hadn't run into him yet, in fact Neptune was relatively small in size and since the reunion which seemed like a lifetime ago she hadn't seen the blonde haired self claimed sex machine "You?"

"I told you" she said looking anywhere but his face "Veronica set it up for me" she finished with a gulp

"Yes, but why? And why did you actually come?"

"I was practically pushed out of a moving car" she really didn't need him to know what was really driving this, she nervously made eye contact with him and she knew by the sparkle in his eye that he knew

"Well aren't you a saucy little minx Mackie" she felt his eyes focusing on her more as though if he concentrated hard enough her clothes would fall off, she felt herself consciously put her arms over her chest

"One thing I don't get is why you aren't using your own name?" the waitress brought over Dick's cup of coffee and Mac promptly ordered her own

"I want to get laid, not advertise to the world that I'm looking to settle down. Plus I'm already sought after" he winked "wouldn't want to crash the server"

"Please" she scoffed "What's the hype? I'm sure that you aren't THAT good in bed"

"I'm going to have to correct you there. I am THAT good, many have recalled the experience as feeling as though they were born again, that the O's went on for hours" he winked again, maybe she should suggest eye drops "I can show you if you want" he leant in closer "It would be purely fact collecting on your part" Mac could feel her cheeks flush and by the smirk on his face she knew that it wasn't subtle

"I'm happy to leave it to the imagination Dick" Mac averted her stare, pushing the chair out, gathering her stuff and getting ready to leave

"That's cool, I'm happy to imagine you imagining me while I wait for you to give into natures instinct"

"You'll be waiting awhile" she retorted as she walked around the table

"I'll see you later Mac" he smirked as he watched her walk out of the café.

She was unimaginably hot, she walked up the street and on realising that Veronica was not here to pick her up texted Wallace

"_S.O.S damsel in distress" _she pushed send and turned into the alleyway behind the café, she pushed herself up against the wall to gain some composure before Wallace came to pick her up – she could explain the story of how her mystery date had been Dick and now she was all hot and bothered – but she also needed to collect her thoughts. It was just her luck that the first experience she had with this website would hit so close to home. And then it hit her like a light bulb moment – Dick hadn't been surprised to see her, from the moment the door opened he was walking towards her, he had smiled when he saw her and hadn't bolted. She may not have known his true identify until it was too late to do anything about it but had he known it was her? And if so why had he made a date with her?

_To be continued _


	2. Chapter 2

Unexpected – Chapter two

"Is that you Mac?" a voice yelled from the kitchen area of Mars Investigations as she stepped on the threshold of the office complex

"Sure is" she said walking towards her desk, hoping that it was going to take Veronica a long time to mention her lunch date because she really didn't want to or know how to start the conversation.

"How was lunch?" as if Veronica was ever going to skip a beat

"Platonic" she decided that technically she hadn't had lunch with Dick, barely even a coffee, and that it had actually been Wallace who she had shared a salad sandwich with

"I'm not talking about Wallace, I'm talking about the lunch date with the mysterious stranger" Mac cursed under her breath

"Are you a mind reader or have you lo-jacked me?" Being best friends with a private investigator let alone someone as cluey as Veronica Mars really had its downfalls

"Lo-jacked. Put it in the donuts you ate this morning." She smirked

"You are so high tech," Mac laughed turning to face the door as she heard the kitchen footsteps walking towards her, much to her surprise Veronica's delicate footsteps were followed by heavier ones that caused Mac to gulp "You again" she shuddered

"Mac" he smirked and she wondered if he had come over here to mock their accidently date to Veronica, maybe this had all been a practical joke. She knew that Veronica was having less of an urge to use Mr Sparky on him in recent months – they were subtly bonding in their missing of Logan.

"Again?" Veronica asked perplexed, Mac stuttered through some lame story of how she had run into Dick at the supermarket a couple of nights before and either Veronica brought it or didn't really care "So the lunch date?" Mac was glad that Dick was standing behind Veronica because the amused look on his face would have definitely made the petite blonde suspicious

"Wasn't my type" she tried to subtly point her words at Dick

"What about the quickie in the bathroom?" Veronica almost seemed disappointed with her friend's efforts

"VERONICA" with an outraged tone Mac indicated to Dick who could not wipe the entertained look off his face

"What? It's Dick" those words were enough to get her point across "He's all about the casual sex"

"It's my favourite kind" he winked at her "Some of my best work happens in that domain"

"On that note I'm going to go follow another sleazy man"

"Nice segue" Veronica laughed "But Dick isn't just here for fun times, he needs out help"

"Some casual sex bimbo stalking the beach bum?"

"Ha-ha" he said rather sarcastically

"When I say our help" Veronica did the head tilt that indicated that she was going to ask Mac a favour "I mean he needs your help, computer issues"

"I wish I could help de-porn your laptop" she didn't know why she was being so defensive it was just sliding off her tongue

"This whole accidental celibacy thing is making you snarky" Mac's cheeks went bright red, Dick was so amused by the conversation occurring around him

"I am about to go on a stakeout, so I don't think I will have time"

"Mr Peblow right?" Mac nodded "I just need a photo of him going into the strip club, you can go to Dick's after" this was a time where Mac needed their connection to promote some type of telepathic conversation

"I'm paying" and there was the two words that meant that Mac was going to have to suck it up and help Dick, the jobs didn't always come frequently here at Mars Investigations, you took what you could.

X-x-x-x-x-x

Mac walked up the long driveway to the massive beach house, she had picked Veronica up from here a couple of times when Logan was home and had heard stories about how beautiful it was on the inside. She secretly wondered if money brought taste or if that was something that came natural to Dick. The fact that he had dated Madison throughout high school was certainly providing an answer in one direction. It took her a moment to muster up the courage to actually knock on the door.

"You're finally here" he said as he opened the door with a beer in his hand wearing simple light grey tracksuit pants and a white t-shirt.

"Mr Peblow was a little hesitant to go to the strip club tonight. Favourite girl clearly wasn't working tonight. Now show me to your laptop so I can start my weekend" Dick didn't miss a beat, he turned towards an open door walking towards a makeshift office that sat on his living room table – there was probably one hundred different rooms in this big house it kind of made her laugh that he clearly wasn't using half of them. "So what exactly is the problem?"

"Tried to turn it on and this out of the ordinary screen popped up, gave me a 'yes or no' option"

"Please tell me you didn't do anything, shut your computer and came straight to me"

"I pressed yes" Mac groaned "I have this really important business plan to finish writing and payslips to fill out by the end of this weekend and it is all on that laptop – plus I had bookmarked the James Franco putting on his jeans video and I'm not ready to let go of it just yet"

"I think I can help. I just need to know as much as I can about this virus – did you do anything out of the ordinary? Click on any suspicious links?"

"Always, that's where you find the best porn" she gave him the don't mess with me look "Nothing out of the ordinary"

"Get me a beer, this could take me a while" she sat down on a dining room chair and opened the laptop

X-x-x-x-x-x

"... Now I press this. And… YES" she jumped out of the chair "Mac 1 Virus 0" she celebrated, it wasn't until Dick laughed that she realised that he was still in the room. It really showed that when she was in the zone the outside world meant nothing to her "Done" she smiled out of satisfaction up at him

"You are a genius"

"You aren't the first person to tell me that, I get it daily," she inwardly groaned at the last statement knowing how smutty his mind was however he didn't take the bait "You can finish that work now"

"Thanks so much for helping me out, you really didn't have to"

"You saw that determined look in Veronica's eyes, I don't think 'no' was an acceptable answer," he looked almost slightly insulted "plus it was my honour"

"I'll go and grab your check, Ronnie would hunt me down if I didn't hold up my end of the bargain" he walked out of the room and left Mac standing in his dining room without anything to do. All of a sudden something across the room caught her eye and her body orbited towards it. On the mantle piece above the massive fireplace was a gorgeous frame holding a picture that she recognised "That's my favourite one of him"

"I remember the day we took that" she said looking down at the picture in her hands – It was a photo of Mac and Cassidy, he had been sitting on the table part of the park bench with Mac sitting against his legs on the seats connected. It was taken after Wallace's basketball game one afternoon. Jackie had run up to them with her camera phone in her hand, told them how cute they were and requested a photo to remember the day. Cassidy had leant forward, wrapping his arms around her collarbone and whispered something lewd in her ear that registered on her laughing face. Mac put the photo down back where she had found it, talking about Cassidy was hard on her and she could tell by the look on Dick's face that he pained him as well.

"You knew" he looked at her perplexed "Today. You knew it was going to be me at that café" he nodded "Why?"

"Hadn't seen you in a while and thought it would be nice to catch up"

"Dick" she wasn't believing it "Is this like that day at the beach all over again?"

"Beach?"

"Where you apologised to me about how you treated me all those years ago and then try to kiss me?"

Dick laughed, "I did that? Man sometimes I'm a Dick" Mac tried to supress her smile "Truth?"

"Truth"

"You looked fucking hot when you walked into that reunion, hotter when the sprinklers went off and then unbearably hot when you were dancing at the after party."

"I'm not going to sleep with you Dick" it didn't even look like he was hurt by her rejection. He just handed her the check and walked her to the door

"See you later Macster" he gave her a friendly hug and sent her on her way but even after the door was closed her feet wouldn't move, it was like her body didn't want her too. What was she doing?

X-x-x-x-x-x

Dick picked up the empty bottles of beer and headed towards the recycling bin thinking about where his surfboard would take him the next day when a knock on the door sounded. He headed towards it, wondering who could be visiting him this late at night. When he threw the door open he was actually shocked at who stood there looking at him with a nervous look sprawled across her face "I thought you were leaving"

"Fuck it" she said launching herself at his face, he quickly realised what was going on and after smiling launched into steamy kisses that turned into moans on Mac's lips. He shut the door behind her without disconnecting from her, before leaning down and kissing her chest as he hoisted her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist. Fingers tirelessly pulled at buttons and tugged clothes off heaving and desperate bodies as he carried her slowly up the stairs "Wait" she said as he made it to his bedroom door

"You're killing me Mac" he groaned as he momentarily stopped kissing any free bit of skin that he could get his lips on

"No! don't stop doing that" he laughed and continued " But am I displaying prostitutional tendencies if I jump into your bed right after you hand me a check for my services"

"Please shut up" he said as he threw her down onto his bed

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Dick" Mac whispered as she looked at the roof, barely covered by his light blue sheets next to a non-responsive Dick, she could still feel the heat radiating off of him. When he didn't respond she turned her head to the side – he was laying on his toned and tanned stomach, she wondered how much time was needed at the beach to get a body like that and resisted the urge to touch his rather impressive bicep. She had in the heat of the moment slept with him but certainly didn't want to give him any ideas. Mac waited another moment and when it became clear that he wasn't going to respond, she poked his arm hard.

"What?" he murmured into the pillow, not stirring

"Just wanted to make sure you were still alive" she bit her bottom lip, she doubted that he was used to his type of houseguest still being here when he woke up, in fact she wondered why she hadn't snuck out when she had worked out that he slept like the dead

"Mac-Attack" she could hear his smirk "It's going to take more than a good lay to kill me"

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Do you ever stop asking questions" he groaned "If this is going to be a conversation about where we go from here, let me get some sleep and I'll give you some feedback and an exit policy in the morning"

"Gross. No" she manoeuvred herself onto her side so that she was facing him and pulled the sheet to cover more of her body and inadvertently revealed more of his – he however didn't seem to mind. "This house is massive"

"More of a statement than a question" clearly he was not a morning person

"What do you do here for fun?" Dick let out a single laugh

"A bit of this and a lot of THAT" referring to the activities the two of them had just participated, Mac ignored him

"When I was growing up, we had a pretty big house for the 02er zip code but my favourite part was the staircase" unexpectedly Dick turned his head to face her, she felt his eyes watching her face as she stared at the wall above his right shoulder "All I ever wanted to do was ride my mattress down them" he couldn't help but smile at the reflective grin that spread across her face

"Why didn't you?" Mac couldn't decide if the tone of his voice was actual interest or a need to humour her because it was a chivalrous act after someone had mind-boggling sex with you and wouldn't shut up or leave your bed

"My mum was like a safety officer, had to always know where the safety exits where. She practically made us wear helmets to walk on the sidewalk. I don't know where it came from but she was uber protective" she had wondered from time to time if perhaps this seemingly irrational need to protect her offspring was due to the fact that the world had already been cruel enough by sending the Mackenzie's home from the hospital with the wrong baby. If the universe could do that to you there was no saying what was waiting around the corner

"Complete opposite to my parents" she needed no further clarification, dating Cassidy had given her an insight into the Casablancas parental roles and it was enough to make her glad that on some days she didn't feel like she hadn't belonged in her own family because at least at the end of the day her parents still wanted her.

"I promised myself that when I grew up that I would buy a mansion with staircases and go all Princess Diaries two on its ass and stick it to the man" maybe it was the euphoric feeling of having sex for the first time in a long time but Mac could just not shut up and considering that she never planned on seeing Dick again after this night she didn't really care

"Julie Andrews was a serious hard ass in that movie, it was awesome" Mac looked at him with disbelief for a moment as he closed his eyes "So have you achieved your goals?"

"Umm do I live in a mansion Dick?"

"No but you have stairs"

"First of all, when have you ever been to my apartment and Second, that stairwell is like a communal space – plus if I knock Mrs Franks off her Zimmer frame I think I will lose my deposit"

"First of all" he mimicked her tone "You clearly do not remember that I helped Logan help you move into that apartment when you got the job at Kane software and Second, you have to knock over a few Zimmer frames in your life time to have a little fun" she scoffed "No grannies were harmed in the creation of this motivational speech"

"Fine" she said fully dragging the sheet off Dick's naked body and wrapping it around herself. He had inhaled deeply as the cold hair had hit him but didn't move as she started putting on scattered pieces of clothing

"Mac" wondering why his bed had been vacated he threw an arm to the side of the bed she had been occupying before a jolt woke him up fully. He grabbed a pillow and covered his junk as he rolled over to see what the commotion was about. Mac was standing at the corner of the bed closest from the door pulling the mattress towards her "What are you doing?"

"Knocking over some Zimmer frames, now move your Lard ass so I can move this mattress" he smiled at her, jumped off his bed and retrieved his underwear from the other side of the room where they had been flung in the heat of the moment.

"Do you need some help?" Mac could hear the amusement on each word as he stood behind her surveying her bent over body dragging the mattress towards the door.

"That would be nice" she struggled to move the king sized bed on her own, exasperated she dropped it "Is this thing made out of gold?"

"Sounds like the amount of extravagance I aim for" he laughed before walking over to her, pushing her lightly out of the way and picking it up without any form of struggle

"I loosened it for you" she said as she caught her breath and then followed him out towards the staircase

"I hate to break this too you but this mattress isn't going to slide down this staircase, it's massive"

"Live on the wild side Casablancas" she said pushing him away and kicking the mattress into the opening of the staircase before doing a small run up and jumping on "WOOOOOOO" she screamed as the mattress moved slightly and then stopped, she attempted to wiggle on it to make it inch forward more

"This is possibly the best angle ever" he laughed behind her

"This isn't working" she sulked. She lay down on her back with her head pointing in the direction that would take her body down the stairs, Dick didn't say a word, in fact she wasn't even sure that he was still there – perhaps he had lost interest in her childish antics and went to sleep off his regret of letting her into his threshold in one of the many bedrooms in the beach house. Just as she went up on her elbows as a first step to getting up a flash of blonde hair came hurtling towards the stairs and landed on the mattress next to her hard, causing the mattress to jolt forward and a scream in Mac. He laughed and she couldn't help but smile at the exhilaration on his face as they both tried to catch their breath – her because of the shock she had just experienced and him because of the long distance sprint he had done to the mattress. They made eye contact and before either one knew it their lips were connected and his hand was exploring the curve of her body covered by the t-shirt of his that she had found amongst the piles of clothes she had found on his bedroom floor

"Not that I'm not enjoying this" Dick took the opportunity to plant long hard kisses down her neck and Mac had to attempt to form words through the moans that were unconsciously falling from her lips "But I can foresee us getting a bit too into this and going head first down the stairs" he disconnected from her body and she instantly regrated bringing up her concerns.

"Like mother like daughter" he mumbled under his breath as he grabbed her right ankle, using it to turn her body in a direction that would make her feet face down towards the base of the stairs. He then jumped down towards her body and she gasped, panicking that he would land on her and wind her. Dick landed on his hands and held his weight in a push up position just above her body as he looked down on her. The desperation in her eyes and the smile on her face indicated that she was ready for another round but before he could press his bare skin onto her she wrapped her legs around his torso and to his surprise pulled his body down on top of her. Wiggling out of her grasp he took his position just below her navel, lifting up his shirt that was beginning to gather around her mid-drift and kissing up and down her body from her underwear line to her bra. She looked down towards him for a moment and couldn't stifle the laughter that erupted from seeing him completely disappear under the t-shirt leaving a protruding bump

"You are going to stretch your shirt out"

"I don't fucking care" he said pushing himself further up her body and sticking his head through the neck whole that her neck was currently occupying more for comedic relief than romance. Dick smiled as he supressed her violent bursts of giggling with his kiss.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three 

Warm and content feelings swept across her body as she was roused out of her slumber, her eyes were yet to open but her other senses were doing all the work. Mac, in her relaxed state decided to take the time to mentally check off each sense, the toasty feeling of the bedding that engulfed her body had touch covered, she could smell the bitter yet decadent smell of fresh coffee floating somewhere in the obscure distance, she didn't dare explore what she could taste because no one wanted to put that much focus on morning breath and her ears, well they could hear the crash of waves. Hang on a minute; the crashing of waves wasn't something that she could hear from her apartment. She remembered the prissy real estate agent remark that the small two bedroom studio was "a steal" because while the ocean was no more than a twenty minute walk, the buildings that surrounded it blocked out all signs of the beach and made the rent cheap – no beautiful sea views of the sunset, no smell of the salty water and most definitely not sounds of the waves hitting the sand. She burrowed her face and thought back to the night before, the mission to get photos at the strip club came straight back to her – that was just a regular night when you worked for Mars Investigations – but everything was hazy, not a scary hazy just an unfamiliar and then it hit her and her eyes flew open. Landing on Dick's smiling face, watching her from his position next to the open doorway "Moooorning" he was way too cheery for her liking, she mumbled at him and then continued to take in her surroundings. She was propped up on the right side of his bed, covered in duvets and surrounded by big fluffy pillows. She frowned "How did I get here?" he gave her a sheepish look but before he could say something crude about how he had clearly fucked her brains out she added "I mean the last thing I remembered was the mattress on the stairs" she internally shuddered remembering how she had told him all that personal stuff

"Really wasn't comfortable, once all the good stuff ended it was more impractical than anything. Plus when I shut my eyes it made me feel like I was falling" she shrugged off all thoughts of Cassidy and watched him do the same across from her.

"Hey…" he looked at her with eyes filled with concern, he really didn't want to talk about Cassidy right now when a hot girl was lying in his bed half naked "Did you move me or the mattress first?" taken back he laughed, but she was actually concerned, had he moved them both and risked her falling down the stairs as the mattress moved, had he lay her down on the floor until the mattress was back in its place and then put her on it, there were a million possibilities and by the look on his face she doubted that he was going to tell her

"I'm not going to tell you all my secrets so you can tell it to your animal activist by day test stealer by night boyfriends and then have them use my moves. They need the Casablancas charm to pull any of them off anyway"

"That was actually two separate guys and that was college, how do you remember that?" if Mac's experience with men provided her with any insight the look that she just saw flash in Dick's eyes was akin to the look a boyfriend got when you asked them to meet your parents or if you told them that you needed to talk – panic – it was only there for a moment but she swore that she saw it

"Logan knew all the Goss" moving on quickly "You sleep like the dead" then he smiled at the hint of blush that crept around Mac's cheeks

"Why aren't you still in bed?" she wished she could take back the words and rephrase her curiosity in a less desperate sounding manner

"My body clock is set to sunrise Macs-imus" now she noticed the board shorts and the sun glistening off the salt in his blonde hair

"Why didn't you wake me? I would have much preferred to do the walk of shame in dimly lit hours"

"It would be more of a walk of satisfaction" now her cheeks really blushed and a ridiculous smile threatened to spread across his own face. It was then that Mac looked across to the clock and realised the time. It wouldn't surprise him if she hit a world record at the speed she jumped out of bed, collected her clothes that he had put into a pile at the early hours of this morning with a smirk on his face

"SHIT!" she said trying to jump in her jeans, if she weren't so clearly panicked he would laugh, but now his face contorted as he tried to hold the laugh and a the comment about how similar this situation was to the James Franco video "I have to meet Veronica and Wallace in half an hour, by the time I get to my apartment have a shower and put fresh clothes on the traffic alone will make me an hour late"

"You can borrow…"

"Please don't offer me clothing that some other girl has left here after her own night on the stairs" he smirked

"That thing on the stairs was definitely a first, well it was the first time there was a mattress involved. And I was actually going to offer you my shower, cut one step out of your hectic dash to lady Mars" she couldn't help but smile, he was being so nice to her. He stepped forwards and she was sure that he was going to kiss her and continue whatever they had started up the night before, she really didn't have time for it but she doubted her body would allow her to form the words to deny himself or herself but instead he took her hand and walked her towards the master bathroom – pulling a towel off the rack and turning on the shower, pointed to miscellaneous bottles around the room and walked out. Mac looked back towards the door he had shut behind himself gobsmacked – he hadn't even offered to wash her back for her or left the door slightly ajar so that he could peak in – was Dick growing up or was she really bad in bed?

X-x-x-x-x-x

She walked into the kitchen fully dressed, mostly in her own clothes except for the grey t-shirt of his that she had found on his floor the night before – it was already too small for her frame so when you added the massive stretched out neck hole the entirety of her left shoulder was exposed leaving her bra strap showing. It took all of his restraint to stay on his own side of the kitchen bench and not jump her again, he kept his eyes low.

"Great shower pressure" she said as she tied her hair up into the smallest pony tail he had ever seen, he remembered how her hair had stood up at the high school reunion and how it had been the only ever time that he had liked short hair like that on a girl, it was actually quiet long when you looked at it from this perspective.

"We only offer the best here at the Casablancas beach front resort. Although we do charge your credit card if you steal robes" Mac looked down and then up

"This is yours isn't it?" he nodded as she started looking around for where hers had been thrown off the night before

"Keep it. You've stretched out the neck hole anyway" she laughed and he indicated down to the pot of coffee that's smell had greeted her when she stepped out of the bathroom

"I better go" she said, "Thanks for…. That"

"Anytime, Say hi to Ronnie for me" he said with a wink as she headed towards the door and disappeared out of sight before popping out again

"Oh Dick" his bright blues eyes pierced hers "This..."

"Never happened if you don't want it to"

"Thanks" she said with one last smile before the front door shut behind her and he was left again to his own thoughts. This may have never happened to her but it had certainly happened to him.

X-x-x-x-x-x

Mac walked into the quaint little café, the same one she had been in the afternoon before with Dick and made a Beeline straight for her two friends who sat enthralled in their own conversation.

"Should we?" Mac could hear Wallace ask as she walked up to the table and plonked her stuff down

"Should you what?" she asked as Veronica smiled at her presence

"Set up my mum and Keith again, Veronica thinks it's a great idea – her dad hasn't had a serious girlfriend since and when I think about it neither has my mum"

"Logan needs to hurry up and get home so that this one can stop meddling in other peoples love lives" Veronica smirked "Although, unlike her failed attempt in my love life" technically not failed but Veronica certainly didn't need to know that EVER "cupid over here might actually have a half decent idea, just this once" with that confirmation it seemed as though that portion of the conversation was over and they both finally took a moment to take in Mac

"You look like hell" Veronica said as she signalled over to the wait staff, just as Dick had the day before "Did Dick keep you up all of last night? He better have paid you" Mac's facial expression went straight to alarmed as Wallace spluttered his coffee

"What were YOU doing with Dick all night?" after all these years Wallace had seemingly taken on the father-figure/older brother role in their little possie

"Relax Wallace, she was just fixing his computer" with that Mac relaxed, Veronica had no idea "So how much porn was on there?"

"Not as much as you would think, probably as much as Wallace has on his laptop" he spluttered his coffee again and the girls laughed as the waitress came up to the table "Just a coffee please"

"Mandy were you working the lunch shift yesterday?"

"I sure was Veronica Mars, is this for one of your investigations?"

"No…" Mac scowled knowing exactly where this was going

"Yes. Mac was here yesterday with a man, did you see them?"

"Pam was working their table yesterday but I did catch a quick glimpse, very hot, good taste" she said patting Mac on the back

"Thankyou" Mac and Veronica both said at the same time "So is Pam working today?"

"Actually yesterday was her last day, she has taken leave. Going to visit her folks for a couple of weeks and then is getting her nose done – she put in for at least a month off"

"What a shame" Mac said trying to conceal her smile, knowing full well that by the time Pam got back and Veronica finally got back here she would have stopped obsessing over her love life and be wrapped up in her own again as Logan would be back – by her calculations – any day.

"I will get the details Mackenzie! I don't know why you aren't spilling but I have my ways. Have you ever known me to not complete an investigation?"

"You better tell her Mac she is getting that crazy look in her eyes"

Thankfully Mandy came and put the coffee cup down in front of her allowing Mac to take a step back from revealing all.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"HI" she said as she opened the door and promptly closed it behind her walking into the familiar environment, it was funny that years had passed but it didn't seem to change at all, every photo and trinket remained in the exact same place without a speck of dust sitting upon them, she wondered it the colour of the wood underneath them was darker because it wasn't fading with exposure like the un-trinket-ed sections.

"Cindy? Is that you?" the voice came from the kitchen and a smile ran across Mac's face "What are you doing here?" she wiped her hands on her apron, approached her daughter and wrapped her arms around her tightly

"Was just in the neighbourhood, thought I would pop in"

"Is that my girl?" her fathers voice bellowed from down the hallway, he had the most beautiful and genuine smile in the whole entire world – a smile that made you feel like you were the centre of the universe and no one else mattered to him. His hugs were the worst; he would wrap his arms around you and practically shake you it would be so tight that you were sure if he held on for ten more seconds you would pass out but for some reason today she really needed it and she actually felt a smile form on her lips as he stepped towards her instead of the usual dread.

"Hi Daddy" she gasped out as he hugged her

"Try not to break her ribs" her little brother said as he walked through the room, not acknowledging her past that point, and walking into the kitchen. She wondered how different her life would be if this hadn't been her life – she usually avoided this train of thought because her life was everything she wanted and needed it to be, but her late night confessions about how protective her mum was had set something off in her brain. She shrugged off the thoughts as her dad put her back down on solid ground and kissed her forehead

"Are you staying for dinner?" he asked looking down at her, when she had been little he had towered over her and despite the growth spurts he still did

"Of course she is" Natalie quipped as they all unconsciously made their way to the kitchen "And she can stay the night as well"

"Mum…" she went to dispute the last statement however her mum maintained her usual determined look

"It'll be late by the time dinner is over, it only makes sense that Cindy stays. You can drop Ryan off at school in the morning" Ryan groaned behind her and she laughed

"Cant I just drive myself?"

"We can have one of our famous games of Mackenzie family charades" Natalie said completely ignoring her son. Ryan Mackenzie's sandy brown hair, athletic ability and overall personality meant that he didn't face the same torment walking down the halls of Neptune high that she had a decade ago. However that didn't mean that the Mackenzie's weren't still an 02 zip code family, this meant that unlike his rich 09er friends Ryan didn't get a car for his sweet sixteenth, he had access to the two family cars but only when his parents didn't need them. Back when she had been his age she had her own crappy little car and then the Volkswagen but she doubted that her little brother had the mental prowess or the mad skills to plan something as spectacular as the purity test results – although she did feel bad about it some days. What she respected about her brother was that he understood that they weren't made of money, that their parents were getting older and the money wasn't rolling in – rather than being a ratty kid who acted as though the 09er lifestyle was owed to him, this and this alone proved to her that nurture would beat nature in a heart beat. When she worked at Kane software she tried to sneak them, as much money as she could without them telling her off but now she was working at Mars Investigations money was tighter again

"I don't have any clothes and I have work tomorrow"

"There are still clothes in your bedroom" it was true, her room was exactly the same as the day she left and she had left some choice items at home just in case a situation like this happened but the majority of those clothes belonged to a decade ago "Please Cindy, I'm making your favourite" from the smell of the kitchen she could tell that she was making Ryan's favourite not hers but didn't have the heart to tell her

"Okay" she said with a smile as her dad put an arm over her shoulder.

X-x-x-x-x

"You don't have to walk me in" her brother whispered harshly in her direction as she hopped out of the car

"I'm going to see Wallace, his car is here" she said matter of fact-ly as she locked the car and walked towards the familiar doors of Neptune High on a Monday morning.

"And you couldn't have waited five minutes until I had already gone in?"

"Nope, it's a big sisters job to embarrass you"

"Well its working" he tried to walk faster but she matched his pace, he was trying to be cross at her but trying not to smile was proving harder

"Have fun at school today Ry-bear" she yelled after him as he veered off into a classroom and she continued up the hall, he gave her the rude finger and she ran directly into something. Well more accurately someone "Sorry" she said leaning down the pick up what had been dropped when the collision took place

"We have to stop running into each other like this" she could hear the smirk on his face before she even looked up "Are you stalking me?" he quipped

"I should be asking you the same thing" she said as she pulled down her denim mini skirt, her shuffling had averted his eyes down her body, or at least that was his excuse for the long panning gaze down

"Whoa" he said taking a step back and looking at her body again "Excuse me but is this 17 again?"

"What are you doing at Neptune high?"

"What are you wearing?"

"I stayed at my parents last night and this was all that was in my draws" she really didn't owe him an explanation but it fell out of her plus she knew that this conversation wasn't going to go anywhere until he knew "Why are you here?"

"I'm here as a consultant for Mr Pope's business class, figure I owe it to him since my dad conned him" she smiled softly, this side of Dick had never been shown to her before "So I think we need to talk about last night." she gave him the most concerned look she could, took his wrist and dragged him into a nearby supply closet

"What are you doing? My brother goes here, Wallace is here. What part of this never happened does that fit into" He let out a singular laugh and looked down towards the ground, how was he going to start this conversation – it wasn't exactly a conversation that he had often had with girls that he had slept with "Dick… he looked up and made eye contact with her, worst decision ever cause now he couldn't talk and was fixated but it wasn't just affecting him – Mac could feel her cheeks getting flushed and her brain switch off before she stepped forwards and latched her arms around his neck. Dick was quick to seize the moment and latched onto her lips, attacking them with pressure as he backed her into a bench, Mac stood up on her tiptoes and Dick cupped her ass with both hands, continuing to kiss her as he lifted her so she was sitting on the edge of the bench. Mac wrapped her legs around his body as he undid the top button of her denim skirt and disconnected from her lips

"Is this what it would have felt like to have sex with you in high school?"

"Shut up" she said as she threw her lips at his

X-x-x-x-x-x

They came out of the storage cupboard dishevelled but with satisfied looks on their faces, they had timed their exit ten minutes after the bell had gone signifying the end of one class and the start of another. As a past student of Neptune High Mac knew that that ten minutes was the crucial time – either you headed straight to your next class or you ditched – Dick agreed, although he was more accustomed to the ditching rather than rushing to the next class. She couldn't believe that she had just done that in the storage room across from the locker Veronica had occupied in high school – it wasn't even a thought on her radar back then. She could feel Dick's hand graze her back "Give me your phone" she looked back at him with questioning eyes as he held his hand out and she handed her phone over "I'm going to add my number and send myself a message, so that..." he looked up at her "my number is already in here?"

"Logan" she gulped very aware of the fact that Dick's hand was on the small of her back, that she was enjoying it and that at any point someone she knew or someone that knew her brother could see them

"He never gave me yours"

"Maybe he thought that you would only use it for bad – Naked selfies, dirty texts" he smirked "he wanted to make sure that you had someone on your side while he was deployed and I'm less likely to react badly to something you say and pull out Mr Sparky"

"That boy always has my back" he smiled clearly thinking about his best friend, Mac recognised the look – it was exactly what she thought of Veronica

"He does, now I have to go before someone sees us" she said not yet able to make her legs move he leant forward pressing his lips to her temple softly then whispering

"Your tops on backwards" he then took his hand off the small of her back and walked in the direction of the office the belonged to Mr Pope

X-x-x-x-x-x

"_Hey Mac, before you dragged me into a closet at school today I actually really wanted to talk to you about something. Last night was unbelievable and I wanted to know if you wanted to do it again sometime - You jumped me before I got to ask but that's one of the main burdens of this face. But what do you say? Are you up for a summer fling?" _

To be continued


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter four**

Mac sat on her couch sipping a beer after a long day at the office, she was pretty sure that her feet would fall off if she stood up one more time and like clock work as she decided that she would not move from this spot ever there was a knock at the door. She got up as slowly as possible; the person at her door was going to have to suffer just as much as she was. Mac threw the door open and a look a shock passed across her face. Dick was standing there; she didn't know what his process was in the morning but his hair always looked fantastic. He looked her up and down, smirked and then shook his head before stepping forward and literally sweeping Mac off her feet.

"I nee you now" he said in the sexiest tone that she had ever heard, it was so sultry but his hot lips hitting every inch of skin that had been left bare due to the heat wave that had hit Neptune it the past couple of days. He walked her up to the couch and lowered her down so that she was standing on the cushion – she was now just taller than him, he knelt down so he was at her navel. Dick lifted up her shirt and she pulled it over her head as he picked her up, her legs wrapped around his waist almost out of instinct as he marched her towards her bedroom and then she felt herself swerve…. And suddenly she realised where she actually was, turning around a bend on her way back into Neptune just before sunrise.

It had been one week, one week since Dick had sent her a text that had been on her mind – along with a second dirty picture with the caption "Now you know what you've been missing out on. Bet you are wishing Logan passed on your number years ago". The combination of the first message and their last encounter in the storage room at Neptune High was enough to leave her hot and bothered, which was something that worried her more than the implications of accepting Dick's request. Thankfully Mars Investigations had been busy with cheating spouses, lost animals, lost money, you name it and you would find it in Neptune over the heat wave – meaning that there wasn't really a free moment to think too deeply into the ramifications of responding or not responding. Right now she was driving back into Neptune, she had been working on a case that had lead her just out of town and after the final shoe dropped and she finally got the photo that she needed to really nail this case. When she quit Kane Software and started working with the Mars' she assumed that her role would be more technologically based – hacking into anything and everything. However while it had been quiet Veronica had been training Mac up for some of the more mundane private investigating tasks, it proved for a quicker turn around when the cases did come in and that Keith could take it slower with his introduction back into full time work after his accident. Mac was getting antsy in the drivers seat, there was so much on her brain and her body just couldn't take it and this heat wasn't doing much to help it. That was it, she took a moment to recognise where she was and then took the next turn off, finding herself in the car park of one of the best beaches in Neptune – she needed to cool herself down.

Mac thought that if she just walked up and down the beach, let the wind go through her hair and just take a moment that she would gain some perspective. However there was a major burden to that plan – their was no wind! Mac flung herself down on the ground hoping that the damp sand would provide some comfort. The beach was dead quiet; of course it was the sun was barely rising. Mac looked around to making sure the coast was clear then quickly took off her clothes and ran into the ocean. The temperature of the water made Mac take a deep inhale before ducking under the water to fully immerse herself in it, she treaded water with her back to the beach and a smile on her face until someone coughed behind her. Turning quickly, she covered as much of her naked body as she could, the sun was starting to come out now and while the waves were covering her up slightly, everything was become just that little bit more visible – as if this wasn't embarrassing enough she turned to see a face that she really didn't want to see "You have got to be kidding me. Seriously are you stalking me?" it came out as half joke and half seriousness – who knows which one she meant more, it was odd that after all these years of living in the same town and not running into each other, that over the past couple of weeks all they had done was run into each other (occasionally naked).

He looks so casual, with his surfboard under his arm and his wetsuit covering his legs but the stifled heat means that he has left the top half to gather at his waist "Mac, you are literally on my doorstep" he said pointing behind himself towards the lit up house "If I was stalking you, you would kind of be asking for it" it was a pretty logically argument, she continued to bob in the water as he took a step forward to get into the water

"NO" he looked at her with a sheepish grin but caution in his eyes, this was an odd experience for him, usually when Dick sent a text within the context that this text to Mac was in the girl in question would drop everything and come running. But right now she wasn't running towards him, in fact she was refusing to get any closer to him. "Stay right there" despite the fact that she was preoccupied by the fact that she was completely and totally naked she found her eyes catching on his half naked body and he definitely noticed the gaze

"Ah I get it, the sales assistant did say that this wetsuit would hug me in all the right places – should I call and confirm?" he took another step towards the water and she yelped "Look Mac what is it? If anyone should be embarrassed it would be me, I'm the one that propositioned you and got rejected – well not even rejected. But the thing is I'm not embarrassed"

"Dick…" the sun was coming up fast and the beach was bound to get more members of the general public, it was going to be embarrassing enough that she was going to have to explain this situation to Dick. Sensing her hastiness Dick followed her gaze to the spot on the beach close to his feet

"Um" he laughed, putting his surfboard down "Mackie? Correct me if I am wrong but is this a skinny dip gone wrong?" the look on her face was enough of an answer, an answered that caused the loudest laugh. Her face was going bright red, she was trying to be strong – that first night she had simply just given into temptation, how was she supposed to know that it would be so mind bogglingly good that she would jump him in the halls of Neptune high without even being provoked. But now the hazy "haven't had sex in nine months" goggles had come off and she really needed to maintain some level of self control – something that proved harder to do when he was standing across from her half naked

"It was really humid and no one was on the beach"

"No need to justify to me" he put his hands up in mock surrender "I like a dirty girl who isn't afraid of public indecency" his bright blue eyes sparkled in the rising sun "Just a word of warning in about ten minutes this beach starts to get dog walkers and surfers"

"I don't have a towel" she bit her lip and the vulnerability in her voice and her general body language caused a warm feeling within him

"Mac" he said gently "I've seen you naked before, and quite recently so I can still picture it ALL"

"Yes" she could do the exact same thing, in fact she had woken up from dreams over the past week that explored this concept in great detail "But this nakedness is way out of context"

"What do you want me to do Mac?" he was starting to get frustrated, all he wanted to do was pull off his wetsuit and jump in with her, combine two of his favourite things, and he usually wouldn't have hesitated – jumping in the second that he noticed the pile of discarded clothes on the sand – but she hadn't responded to his text, he didn't know what she was thinking or which way she was swinging and he found himself really not wanting to stuff it all up.

"Close your eyes" she was beginning to wade towards the beach line, keeping her body submerged until he closed his eyed and then darted towards her pile of clothes. He could hear her struggling to get her clothes on in a hurry, making frustrated noises when sand flicked onto her naked wet body – He couldn't resist, he turned and watched as she pulled her jeans up over her milky skin and then threw her top on quickly before turning around to face him "Thank you"

"For what?"

"Not looking" he nodded his head, clearly she hadn't caught him taking a sneaky glimpse at the last minute

"It was good to see you Mac" he picked up his surfboard and headed into the water

"DICK" she yelled out to where he was paddling in the water lapped by the freshly risen sun, he turned himself around and actually looked surprised at the fact that she was still standing there – he thought for sure that she would speed out of here and begin avoiding him at all costs "THIS SUMMER FLING" he didn't have the heart to tell her that people were now behind her on the beach and even from his distance away from land they were looking at her "WE NEED TO HAVE GROUND RULES"

"IT WAS THE WETSUIT WASN'T IT?" he smirked as she waved and then walked up the beach towards the car park.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"_We are not exclusive, you can go on dates with whoever you want" _Mac typed into her phone, adding to the long list of rules that they had each been compiling together since the early hours of the morning. Her phone pinged as she got to the doors to Mars Investigations

"_Minimum of five times a week" _she scoffed

"_Are you trying to kill me?" _

"_Is four too much of a stretch?" _she laughed at her phone and came face to face with Veronica

"What are you laughing at?" she asked as Mac locked her phone rather hastily, something that Veronica definitely noticed and was taking note of

"Ryan just sent me through one of those 'Screaming Goat' videos, you know how they fuel me" she said making her way over to the coat rack and then turning to find Mac sitting on her desk

"Do you know what I find curious?"

"The fact that Wallace's hair looks that good as soon as he rolls out of bed in the morning?" she sat down on her desk chair and attempted to work around Veronica, which was incredibly difficult when you took into consideration how much desk room was left once you took into consideration the space taken up by the two fancy computer monitors that Mac had for hacking

"I find it curious that just over a week ago you were captain of the celibacy club: snarky division, and now you are camp sunshine and happiness – it cannot all be ode to the screaming goat" her phone vibrated in her hand and she hoped with all of her might that Veronica hadn't heard it

"Maybe I'm just focusing all of my pent up sexual frustration on other activities"

"Yeah, Sex" Mac spluttered

"Now that is ridiculous" now was her moment to shine, that one drama lesson that her mother had forced her to attend in middle school was going to finally come in handy "Who would I be having sex with? The only people I see are you, your dad and Wallace. And let me tell you this, I am not sleeping with any of you. Now I am going to go and get some coffee" she said standing up from her desk

"Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie" Veronica stood up from the desk "Don't think you are fooling me, we went to the same drama class! I know you are getting some, and from the blissful aura I've been getting off of you all week I know that it is good as well. Just spillllllll it" the last words were came out in a desperation of a whole new level

"I don't know what you are talking about, but something I do know about it the fact that I was able to shut the Robinson case singlehandedly" she said as she finally disappeared into the kitchen

"I was trying to provide you the time and space that you needed to come up and tell me about this on your own but since you are clearly not willing to divulge I am going to have to go into full detective mode and you know me Mac, I wont stop till I have answers"

"Is there any way that we can get Logan home quicker?" Mac muttered

X-x-x-x-x-x

"I don't want to know about the girls that you fuck" she said breathless between ravenous kisses, as he lay draped across her on her couch

"Believe me, I really don't want to know about the guys that you fuck" his lips were pressed against her lips and the vibrations of his words both tickled her and made her want him more

"Do we put an expiry date on this?" right now all she could see was the pleasure and bringing up a date for that pleasure to end was not something she wanted to do but they were hashing out a deal and it was something that needed desperate consideration

"Let's stop making rules, we have the essentials," he said postponing the kisses and looking down into her eyes "Let's just have fun with this"

"Okay" she said with a smile, there were feelings of giddiness that bubbled just underneath the surface

"This summer is for you and me okay?" he said moving a piece of wayward hair from her face "No one else needs to know"

"Let the summer begin then" she smiled up and he took it as though she was pressing the start button on something that he had imagined for a long time now, he pushed himself back down and commenced the fine work he had been doing from the moment he stepped into the threshold of her apartment – he remembered clearly how bare it had been when he and Logan had carted all of her heavy boxes up the relentless stairs and how her eyes had sparkled as she contemplated all the possibilities that lay before her within the next phase of her life, she had never looked more beautiful to him. A knock at the door lead to a startled couple and a bitten lip "Hold that thought" she said as she slid out from underneath him "Who is it?" she yelled frantically trying to straighten and put on the clothes that had been dishevelled by Dick's wandering hands

"Wallace"

"Just have to take something off the stove, I'll be there in a second" she said as Dick rapidly picked up any sign of himself from the living room and darted into her bedroom. When the bedroom door shut behind him and Mac recognised that the coast was clear she threw the front door open "Wallace, did we have plans?"

"Nah, but I figured you could use some company and I certainly could use some so maybe we could watch a movie? Or just chill" he said plonking himself down on the couch that not even five minutes before had been the primary make-out zone "So what are you cooking?"

"Nothing, it's too hot to even turn the stove on"

"So what were you doing when I showed up then?" he asked and she instantly remembered that she had just blown her past self's cover

"I was going to cook something so I turned on the oven but then I realised that it was too hot to cook so I was turning the stove off again when you showed up. So where is Veronica tonight?" she asked hoping that the Segway would confuse him enough to forget her stupid mistake

"Logan was just coming on Skype when I left, she is loco crazy though. Completely obsessed with the idea that you are getting some, I found her desperately trying to hack into something – she is really upset that you wont tell her what's going on but she is even more upset that she has become hacking complacent because she has had you to do it for her for all these years"

"She is crazy" Mac said briefly satisfied by the notion that Veronica was not yet any closer to working out who she was having sex with – a satisfaction that disappeared when a loud bang came from her bedroom and Wallace jumped into a standing position

"OH MY GOD" he laughed but a disbelieving look shot across his face "There is someone in your bedroom! Veronica was right!"

"Wallace" she whispered in an attempt to quiet him, it was as though she was worried that Veronica would be able to hear him somehow

"You were going to let me watch a movie"

"I was not" she said trying not to smile at the clear enjoyment protruding from every speck of Wallace's body language "I was just in the process of trying to let you down easy"

"How about 'Hey Wallace there is a guy in my bedroom would you mind leaving' although I am only assuming it is a guy"

"Report what you want back to Veronica but for information purposes, yes it is a guy"

"Mac" he said grasping her shoulders "I don't know why you are keeping this a secret from Veronica and it might just be easier to tell her that there is someone in the picture but I'm not going to tell her anything that you don't want me to tell her" back in high school and even college Mac and Wallace had been close because they were a part of Veronica's posse, however when she left for Stanford their relationship had truly been tested. The Veronica glue which had originally held them together was no longer there but they had managed to salvage the friendship and make it even stronger in the process "Plus it's kind of fun seeing Veronica stumped" he laughed as he let go of her shoulders "Can I meet him?" he said walking backwards towards her bedroom door as she chased after him, Wallace made it to the handle and….

**To be continued **

**Authors Note** – So I just wanted to drop a line and say THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU so much for all reading my story, reviewing it and following it. This is my first Veronica Mars story and I was super nervous about actually writing it and putting it out there but from the first chapter I was getting amazing support – support that I had never received from any other fan fiction community. Feel free to PM or review me with any CONSTRUCTIVE criticism or ideas for where you would like this story to go. Sorry if this chapter isn't as good, I was in a rush to write it so that I could keep the once a week updates going for as long as I could.

I may not know where this story is heading at all, and I may not be able to write any sort of sex scene or smut but please keep reading because I love you all

Maggie Frost

xx


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter five

As quick as the door went to open it shut and her face was in front of his, she must have moved at the speed of lightening to intercept him like that "Mac" he said as an impressed look flashed across his face "Have you been working out?"

"Are you saying I'm not generally speedy?"

"I'm thinking of putting you on the team, you are faster than the kids on my team but then they would probably be that fast with incentive" his eyebrows arched up at her as he indicated to the doorway that she was so ferociously blocking.

X-x-x-x-x-x

Mac threw the door open to her dimly lit bedroom, as she took the first step in she noticed that he was no longer there and she felt this sense of disappointment wash across her. The light was on in the bathroom and she orbited towards it, the smile on her face disappeared at the sight of the empty bathroom – walking back into her bedroom she picked up her phone and selected his name "_Where did you go?" _sitting down on the end of the bed she hoped that he hadn't made it far

"Is the coast clear?" a hoarse whisper came from the window that she had only just realised was open, even though she was sure she recognised the voice on the other side of the window she still approached it cautiously. Mac leaned on the windowsill and peered out to find the brightest white grin shining up at her as he kneeled on her fire escape – his shirt was only partially done up as though he wasn't sure what the outcome would be and if he should leave or not

"Wallace is gone," she said tucking her hair behind her ears "Are you going to come back in?" Mac bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from giddily smiling down at him any more than she already was – she certainly didn't want to give him any ideas

"I think I might need some assistance with that" he said as he stood up and assessed his surroundings "And quickly, Mrs Franks light just went on and I'm not wearing my pants" Mac's laugh was contagious, if he could make her laugh at every minute he would just to hear how uncontrolled it was as it left her lips

"I'm sure that you have done this before" she said putting her hand out for Dick to grasp – although she wasn't sure how her arms were going to lift him back into the apartment

"I don't usually climb back in their windows Mackie" he let out a laugh as he grasped her hand; he launched himself off of the handrail as she pulled at his arm with both of hers. Although all round it probably took them a total of two minutes maximum to get him back into the threshold it felt like a long process. As his torso made it through the window the struggle of remaining on her feet became impossible to maintain and Mac's feet slid forward – sending her plummeting towards the floor. Dick would have attempted to save her from hitting the floor if he wasn't plummeting towards it himself and the most important thing he needed to save her from was his own weight falling on top of her. However that wasn't something he needed to worry about, Dick's fall was stopped as his toes got stuck on the outside ledge – the only body part that fell on her was his head onto her breasts. Mac let out a laugh as Dick moved each leg from the ledge and landed straddling her body with one leg on either side "Well this could have ended a lot worse" she laughed again and a smile erupted on his own face "So how did you get rid of Wallace?"

"Told him the man in my bedroom wasn't ready to meet any of my overbearing friends just yet" she felt her cheeks flush

"I don't think anyone is ever ready to meet your friends"

X-x-x-x-x-x

Weeks flew by before her eyes and her schedule was relatively stable – go to work, have sex with Dick, go to sleep and then repeat the next day. It wasn't that they were sleeping together every night – not even Dick had the stamina to maintain the energy levels required to participate in the activity that they had both seemingly mastered together – however the majority of the time she would find herself answering the knock at her front door or find herself standing in front of his door anxiously anticipating the evening. She didn't just look forward to the sex, she looked forward to the small bursts of pillow talk and laughter that occurred between when the activity stopped and the other person did "the walk of satisfaction" as Dick called it. Mac noticed this gentleness in him when he was exhausted, his mindless touch on her body as he closed his eyes to let her know that he hadn't forgotten that she was there and that he appreciated their time together, he spoke to her with such kindness as though he was interested in what she actually had to say, which at that point of the evening was usually anything that poured out of her mouth not because she had ever thought of sharing it but because all filters had been blown away and she felt a sense of comfortableness– she did wonder if these were skills he had mastered through years of having summer flings or if this was especially for her but whenever it popped into her head she would quickly shut it down. Tonight was no exception, he had arrived at nine thirty once she had already eaten and peeled off the remnants of the day, so that no lines were crossed – they weren't there to have dinner with each other, they weren't there to talk about their crappy days, the arrangement was for fucking and they weren't going to waste a minute of the summer. The phone buzzed on the opposite bed side table, Mac groaned as she opened her eyes and looked at the clock, it was around three in the morning and by the groans and movement on the other side of the bed she guessed that Dick hadn't gone home yet. The vibration of the phone went right down to her core and made her brain thump, she sighed a breath of relief when Dick finally answered it "Hello" his voice was husky, just as it always was when he had just woken up "Sorry, I think that you have the wrong number" she closed her eyes and hoped to god that she could just tune it out and go back to sleep "Sorry, there is no one here by that name" Mac's eyes popped open, it was pretty late for a wrong phone call. She turned to face him as he pulled the phone away from his ear and looked at the number that came across the screen "Mrs Mac's Mum" Mac could feel all the colour drain from her face, now she remembered putting her phone down next to his as they threw each other into bed, he dryly laughed next to her and covered the receiver with his hand "I always forget that your name is Cindy"

"Just give me the phone" she said as she climbed on top of him to get it out of his grasp "Hi mum, is everything okay?" her mum had always been very strict on polite times to call people, it was appropriate to make a call between nine in the morning to nine in the evening unless previously planned otherwise

"_We are at the hospital, It's your dad" _

"What happened?" she asked as she jumped into action, throwing the duvet covers off of herself and running around the room, pulling clothes out of draws as Dick tried to work out what was going on his eyes following her around the room, a panicked feeling passed through his body – he may not have any family left but he knew that that look on her face was family related "I'll be there soon" he could hear the quiver in her voice as she said goodbye and took the phone away from her ear

"What's wrong?" he asked as she frantically tried to get dressed and find things around the room, he could practically guarantee that she had no idea what she was looking for, he stood up from his spot in the bed and walked up to her, grasping her shoulders in her hands "Mac what's happened?"

"My Dad" she gulped too preoccupied to meet his eye "He has been rushed to the hospital with chest pains and I can't find my fucking keys"

"Forget about your keys" he said throwing on his own clothes as she watched him "I'll take you, you aren't in any state to drive," he said as he walked towards the open door

"Dick" tears were running down her face

"Come on Mac, Let's go"

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Dick?" they were about half way through the agonising trip to the hospital and had not spoken a single word, a preoccupied silence, Dick's sports car was zipping between cars and around corners and she knew he was trying his hardest to get her there quickly

"She speaks" he quipped

"I may have no previous experience in this area but I'm pretty sure that 'Summer flings' or whatever we are calling this, don't take the fling-ee to the hospital" she looked directly at the road every time Dick took his eyes off it to check how she was doing

"I think the summer sex handbook says only if the fling-ee puts their back out in some crazy sexcapade" she let out a brief laugh

"Dick"

"It's just part of my charming nature Cind" from the look in her eyes when he glanced back at her that was not a nickname she would be condoning at all

"Well thanks Rich" yep her tone confirmed it, this was not a nickname she wanted and now he knew exactly what he was going to call her for the rest of the summer.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"RYAN" she exclaimed as she rushed up the halls of the cardiac wing floor, Dick walked steps behind her watching as the nurses on the wards gave Mac a dirty look about being so loud so early in the morning – he could only assume. Mac hugged her brother tightly "What happened?"

"I don't know I woke up to mum shaking me and the siren of an ambulance, he was so pale on the ride to the hospital and he was clutching his chest, it was really scary stuff" She pulled him tight against her, Ryan towered over her so her head sat on his chest, she leaned up and kissed him on his forehead but he had to duck down for her to reach it – Dick was impressed that the boy that seemingly shared no resemblance to Mac, had predicted his sisters next move and made the necessary adjustments

"Where is Mum?"

"Right here Cindy" Dick had never met Natalie Mackenzie yet there was something eerily familiar about her that he just couldn't quiet put his finger on, he supposed that the familiarity probably had something to do with the fact that he had been studying her daughters face for nearly the past month now. "You really didn't have to rush over"

"Yes I did" Mac said as her mum brought her in for a hug "How is he?"

"Not in pain anymore, they rushed him off to do some tests" Natalie brushed the hair out of Mac's face the same way that she had when she was a little girl and had grazed her knee and it was exactly what she needed "So now we just have to keep our minds off it and wait for the doctor"

"Okay" Mac said as she directed her mother to a vacant chair next to her brother "Can I do anything for you?"

"You can introduce me to the boy who answered your phone and is standing in a very lurking manner behind you" Mac turned, she felt horrible but she had completely forgotten that he was behind her, that he had followed her all the way in there. Mac gulped and motioned him forward

"Hi I'm Richard" he didn't know where the formal introduction came from, he did know from experience that he always got nervous when meeting the parents "But you can call me…." His eyes went from a pained yet smiling Natalie to Mac's panicked eyes, he realised that Mac did not want her mother to know that she was sharing a bed with a Casablancas especially this Casablancas, he knew that his reputation got around "Richie" he watched as she sighed a breath of relief.

"Well hello Richie, I wish we could have met in better circumstances but it is lovely to meet you" she said drawing him in for a hug, This was the first time in a long time that someone he could clearly identify as a maternal figure had hugged him in a long time – he hadn't seen his mother in years "Did you know that Mac never introduces us to her boyfriends?"

"Well I feel privileged" he said with a smirk as she directed him towards the vacant seat between Ryan and where she was planning on sitting as Mac stared on gob smacked. She couldn't believe that her mother didn't recognise the boy sitting next to her. For years the Casablancas' had been on the news once every fortnight, the same stock standard photos of Dick and Cassidy shotting across the screen regardless of what the story was about – she remembered how devastated her mother had been when she had filled her in on all the gloriously horrible details of what Cassidy had done and what had occurred in the hotel room that night and this had spurred on Natalie's reactions to every story. Depending on how Mac was dealing with the circumstances that sometimes crept back up on her, some days as she sat in front of the screen or reported back to her father hoping that Mac couldn't hear her in the other room she would say "Good, they got what was coming to them" and others she would say "Those poor boys never had a chance". Mac did suppose that he had changed, the Dick that stood before her seemed so different to the Dick that she wished she never had to associate with in high school and not just in his demeanour or the way that he treated her. But when she really focused on his face like she was doing right now she did notice that it was a lot softer than it used to be, she could see the pain of abandonment, fear and loss creeping behind his gorgeous blue eyes but she supposed that it would take the eyes of someone with that same look to recognise it in another, he had grown up to be more masculine than pretty boy and his hair was darker and more cropped than the shaggy look he had sported back in high school and all of the news photos, he truly was beautiful she could understand why women would fall for him, she knew why she had fallen for him. Wait what?

"You okay there" she realised that the reason she had such access to the look behind those eyes was because he was starring right at her with an amused look on his face

"Sorry" she said darting her eyes to anywhere that wasn't his face, she eventually settled on the panelling of the roof

"So tell me about yourself Richie" Natalie put on a smile even though her mind was behind those "No access" doors

"I'm Neptune born and bread, I slacked my way through high school and college"

"Did you and Cindy know each other back then?"

"Nah, I used to catch glimpses of her on the playground and I'm not going to lie I always had a bit of a crush on her, I loved the blue hair extension"

"Don't be stupid" Mac said as she took a seat next to Ryan

"Yeah, no one liked those blue hair extensions" Ryan quipped and both Mac and Natalie let out a laugh

"Did you tell her about your crush?"

"Not till just then, we always ran in different circles and I wasn't good enough for her back then"

"Are you good enough now?"

"Mum" Mac jumped in

"I'm working on being a better man, but that's for me. If I get the company of someone as beautiful as your daughter along the way or because of who I am working on becoming then that would be the best outcome ever" She could feel her mother swoon and she wasn't sitting anywhere near her, although she didn't blame her she was definitely swooning too but she was too scared to speak.

"Mrs Mackenzie" a deep voice cut in across from them and they all startled

"Dr Peck" Natalie stood up quickly with Ryan following her

"You really know what to says to mums"

"I think that the truth is the best way to deal with it" he said nodding his head forward as Mac walked up and stood next to her mother.

"So we have been able to conclude that your husband was suffering from Angina – a temporary discomfort or pain that happens when part of your heart muscle is temporarily not able to get enough blood and oxygen to meet its needs"

"Is it like a heart attack?" Natalie asked, her body had stiffened

"It can be a warning sign but we caught it early, we will put Sam on medication and as long as he makes some changes to his lifestyle we can get on top of it, but we can talk about this later. Right now how about we get you in to see him"

"That would be great Doctor" Natalie said as she and Ryan followed the white lab coat up the hallway past those doors that had locked them out only minutes before but Mac didn't follow

"Mac" Dick was standing next to her, watching her with concerned eyes as she stared past those doors "Your dad is okay, you can go and see him"

"I can't" her eyes darted towards him "Not yet"

X-x-x-x-x-x

Half an hour they sat there in silence, as he twiddled his thumbs and she refused to look at him. Nurses walked past and looked at the couple sitting awkwardly together, a couple of nurses came over and asked if they were waiting on information on someone but Mac still hadn't been able to form words, Ryan had come out and it had pretty much been the same response. Dick had reassured him that his sister was fine and that he should go and be with his dad.

"Look on the bright side, at least you don't have to donate any body parts," he said hoping that saying something that would make her laugh would pull her out of the haze, instead it did the opposite. He remembered Logan telling him once that his comforting skills were subpar and that the ratio of inappropriate comments went up the worse the situation got, he always knew that it was true in the back of his mind but he would always pretend that his best friend couldn't read him like a book, but right now the truth was sitting next to him sobbing "Mac" he said putting a hand on the small of her back as she sobbed into her hands "I'm sorry it was a stupid thing to say" this only made her sob harder. The nursing staff and other waiting room occupants watched them intently, confused and judgemental looks on their faces and that was the last thing that Mac needed. He grabbed her hand and practically carried her to the closest empty room that he could find. She stopped for a moment to look at her surroundings and stared at him, tears still rolling down her face and a hiccup at the end of the words she tried so hard to form "I'm not really in the mood right now" he rolled his eyes and smirked

"Contrary to popular belief, your crying face isn't at all sexy" he was lying, it was a painful sight but there was such beauty, gentleness and vulnerability covering every inch of her face "Just come here" he said opening his arms as she slammed her body into his embrace

"I couldn't help even if I wanted to" she began violently sobbing, her body heaving as she tried so hard to breathe and cry at the same time, he pulled as close as he could without hurting her and just held on. He had been in this pain before and he didn't need words, he needed support, But back then he had no one to give it to him – no one to hold him and reassure him with actions not words that everything was going to be okay. He hadn't even known that he needed it until the night he had found himself bloody and bruised on Logan's doorstep. The loving boy had stared at him for a moment and then as a surprise to both of them embraced him in the tightest hug he had ever felt, they stood there in the open doorway for hours. Who would have thought that the two 09'er kids who lost everything would be comforted not by money or status but by something as free and easy as human contact.

"I've got you Cindy Mackenzie," he said kissing her forehead and then resting his chin on the top of her head as the cries became dimmer and less frequent

To be continued!


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter six **

"What was that noise?" Mac looked up embarrassed towards Dick who smiled staring at the road as her little brother laughed in the back seat. After another half an hour in the storage cupboard clutching onto Dick for dear life, Mac had pulled her self together and gone to see her dad. When she hesitated two steps away from his door Dick had squeezed her hand and assured her that he would be waiting outside. She knew that it was so not part of the rules of the fling but she couldn't bare to point out that fact. Her dad had looked so small tucked into the hospital bed; his face matched the drained white of the hospital gown that hung off of his body; she expected her dad would soon be making jokes at the expense of the ass flap. Her family was enveloped in conversation about the new diet and exercise regimen that Sam was going to implement the second he was feeling better, she could tell that he was overwhelmed and tired yet appreciating the attention. Mac stood at the foot of the bed and squeezed her dad's feet – he looked up at her and for a moment they just looked at each other and smile

"Shut up" she responded putting hands defensively onto her stomach "We've been at the hospital all morning, I'm starving"

"Well why didn't you say something when we were there, I would have got you something from the cafeteria" Dick asked as Ryan scoffed in the backseat "What?"

"Clearly HE has never eaten hospital food" he directed his statement towards his sister, a knowing look shared between the two

"That's because I'm at my physical peak and I don't need to go to the hospital"

"What no alcohol poisoning or STI testing?" Mac quipped

"Well it's nice to know what you think of me," he laughed next to her as she quickly grabbed onto his arm and squeezed "What's wrong?"

"You have to stop the car, right now! Pull over!"

"Mac, are you feeling okay?"

"What?" she asked turning and looking at Dick's panicked face "Oh no, I'm fine I just know that there is a place just on the corner that does vegan waffles"

"Vegan Waffles?" the distain was exaggerated off his lips

"They are surprisingly delicious" Ryan said from his position in the back seat, once Natalie was satisfied that Sam was okay and that there was no point of the whole family crowding his bed and keeping his droopy eyes awake, she decided that the kids should go and get some sleep and since Mac hadn't driven herself to the hospital Dick had been happy to offer them both a lift back home – also he was pretty sure that he left his socks on Mac's bedroom floor.

"You Mackenzie's are weird," he said as he pulled into the parking space directly in front of the café that Mac pointed too.

"I'm getting us all some" she said with the first genuine smile he had seen on her face all morning, there were times where she would smile but her mind was elsewhere and others where she tried to protect her mum from the scary thoughts that ran through her mind – She jumped out of the car with Dick watching every move she made as Ryan pushed himself forward

"I know who you are man" Dick turned to look at him "You are Dick Casablancas, urban legend. What's with the whole Richard/Richie thing?" Dick made mental note that clearly the Mackenzie's had decided not to tell Ryan about what went on between the Casablanca's and Mac in that last year of high school based on the look of admiration on the young boys face

"I'd be anything your sister wanted me to be"

"You are totally whipped man"

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Do you want me to come in?" he asked as the back door shut behind Ryan and as Mac's hand reached to unbuckle her seatbelt

"That's okay" she smiled delicately at him, she looked exhausted and all he wanted to do was lie down in bed and wrap her up in her arms, letting her sleep until she could sleep no more "You've done more than you needed too, Thank you"

"It was my pleasure" he said putting his hand on her thigh "And if there is anything else you need…" his eyes met hers

"I will call you" the level of eye contact was intense, she could feel herself drawn to his lips – she bit down on her own, as she watched him moving towards her too. In the back of her mind she knew that a kiss outside of the sexual context would be completely out of the scope of a summer fling, yet she couldn't stop herself from moving forward. A knock on the window broke their gaze and they both looked towards the window with blushed cheeks "I have to go" she said as her brother made his way over to the front door of her building complex "Enjoy your waffles" she said kissing him on the cheek and jumping out of the car as Dick stared back at her completely perplexed.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"_Why didn't you call me?" _a distressed Veronica said on the other end of the phone as Mac pulled on the fluffiest pair of bed socks that she had hidden in the bottom of her sock draw for the days that she really needed some warmth and comfort

"It was really early in the morning, I didn't know how bad it was and I didn't want to wake you up"

"_Mac, you need to call me when these things happen! I would have been there in a heartbeat"_

"I know" Mac smiled into the receiver, the love that she had felt for this girl since the moment she had helped her break into her own car was profound and incredibly strong

"_I hate the idea that you were alone" _

"I wasn't alone" she thought back to Dick's warm embrace, the way he had taken control when she had none "my family was there" she covered her tracks

"_Do you want me to come over now?" _

"I just want to sleep away this horrible morning, I've got my best P.J pants on, I've had a glass of wine and Ryan is asleep in the spare bedroom"

"_So tonight is covered but how about dinner tomorrow night?" _

"I did get the point across that my dad is fine right?" she laughed

"_I know, but I get hungry, Logan isn't home and sitting alone eating Chinese food is just a level of despair that I'm just not ready to hit yet…. twice in one week" _

"Sounds perfect" her phone vibrated frantically next to her ear, indicating that she was getting text messages at a rapid rate – the fact that her mother was horrible at texting and was way more likely to make a phone call released a lot of stressful feelings "Now I am going to go to sleep, I'll see you tomorrow at work"

"_Love you Mac!"_

As Mac hung up the phone and the lock screen flashed back at her she frowned _"Dick (8)" _she frantically punched in her passcode, she scrolled up to the first message figuring that it was best to have the whole context _"These waffles are to die for" _she smiled and then scrolled down to the next _"Shit! That message was wildly inappropriate for someone that spent all morning in a hospital" _Mac laughed, _"Why the fuck did I say that?" _the time frames between each message were getting closer and closer _"Mac I'm so sorry" _her laughter was becoming manic _"I understand if you are mad at me" _she scrolled down _"please don't be mad, I'll do anything to make it up to you" _it may have been because of the exhaustion but tears were streaming down her face in laughter _"I'll let you be on top ;)" _the laughter had made her slide down into an uncomfortable position in her bed, she readjusted and continued _"I am such a Dick, I've really upset you and now I am making crude sexual jokes" _the three dots appeared beneath his last message, she could almost feel the apology he was typing all the way from where she sat in her bed.

"_Dick, relax! I was on the phone with Veronica"_ she pressed send _"Just so you know, the waffles ARE to die for" _as she pressed send her bedroom door creaked open, she lifted herself up and saw her brother standing there with blood shot eyes, it was clear he had been crying. She threw her phone onto her bedside table "Ryan, I thought you were asleep"

"I cant," he said with a crack in his voice

"What's wrong?" she felt herself welling up just at the sight of her brother's tears

"I can't stop imagining dad in the ambulance. Every time I shut my eyes its all I can see, I don't want him to die" his body was wracked with sobs as Mac jumped out of bed and ran towards him, wrapping her arms around him – trying to comfort the boy who towered over her

"He is going to be fine, you were there when the doctor said that he was going to make a full recovery"

"Then why can't I shake this feeling?"

"Because you are exhausted, once you get some sleep…"

"You are exhausted too, how come you aren't freaking out," he asked

"Because I am superior" she felt Ryan laugh, "Truth is, I peaked early! I cried hours before you did"

"Can I sleep here with you tonight?" the last time that he had asked to do that he had been eight and it had been the middle of a thunderstorm

"Of course you can," she said as she let him go and walked back over to her side of the bed, he walked over to the other side and lay down next to her, they linked arms and looked up at the roof "Why don't you stay with me for a couple of days?"

"Really?"

"Yeah! I'd love the company and I have a spare bedroom. It'll give dad time to settle into his new routine and get comfortable at home and it'll get you away from the house while dad is getting used to his new routine" she laughed "you know what he is like when he doesn't get his sugar fix"

"What about Dick?" he turned to face his sister

"What about Dick?" she frowned

"Won't it be weird if you have your little brother hanging around? It'll certainly kill the mood"

"It wont be weird at all, Dick and I are just friends" Ryan scoffed next to her

"Such close friends that he is answering your phone at three in the morning"

"We are just friends" she was adamant

"Fuck buddies" he said with a smirk as he got under the covers

"You are not even supposed to know what that means, I'm telling mum"

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Okay Ryan" she said as she walked into the living room to find her brother sitting on the couch, Veronica and Wallace were due to arrive for dinner at any point and it had only just dawned on her that her brother was now in on some vital information that she really didn't want Veronica to know "I need you to do me a favour"

"You name it?" he said not taking his eyes off the PlayStation that Mac had rustled up from the back of a closet, she was having a hard time remembering where she had actually gotten it from

"I need you to not mention Dick to Veronica tonight"

"What about Dick?" he was clearly baiting her

"That he answered the phone, that he came to the hospital or that he drove us home from the hospital"

"I don't get it," he said as his face contorted into sheer concentration and loud bangs sprung from the speakers "If you two are just friends why should it matter if I mention him to Veronica and Wallace?"

"Stop being a Jackass and do what I tell you to do" she sighed exasperated

"Is that how you talk to Dick?" he laughed as she picked up a pillow and flung it at him

"Remind me why I didn't kill you when you ripped the head off my Barbie when you were three?" she said as a knock sounded at the door

"Because I was cute"

"Lucky that isn't a burden any more" she said as she threw the front door open and was attacked by the tiny blonde

"How are you kids doing?" Wallace asked with a big brown bag filled with Chinese food, he patted Mac's arm as she tried to untangle herself from Veronica's grasp and then walked into the apartment and did some 'cool guy' handshake with Ryan

"Ver...on...ica" Mac gasped "I...Cant...Bre...athe" Veronica slowly let her go and entered the apartment "We are good" she responded to Wallace as she shut the door "Dad is good, the doctors have let him go home under mums watchful eye"

"Full recovery?" Wallace said as he poked around Mac's fridge for a beer

"As long as he watches what he eats and starts exercising more" Mac said as she reached for a beer that Wallace had put down on the bench, she clipped Ryan behind the ears as he went to grab one for himself

"If he needs help with the whole exercise thing I would be happy to train him" her phone buzzed in her hand

"Thanks Wallace" she said throwing an arm over his shoulder "I'll run it past him" she said as her phone vibrated again

"You might want to get that," he said smiling at her before walking towards the couch

"_Hey Macster how are you doing __?" _just before "_Are you doing anything tonight?" _

"_I'm good" _she looked up from her message over to the occupants of her couch "_Ryan is still here and Veronica and Wallace have come over for dinner" _

"_Cool" _he typed back quickly; she waited for a more in depth response. He had been so loving towards her the past couple of days; she expected that past the point of realising that sex wasn't on the cards tonight he would at least share a funny anecdote from the day – or maybe in the depths of worry and despair for her father she had conjured up this whole scenario where she didn't just feel like a summer fling, she felt like a year long type of fling, perhaps even not a fling. She guessed that she was wrong.

"So" plonking herself down between her brother and Veronica "How is the set up between your mum and your dad going?"

"They are going on a blind date tomorrow night actually" Veronica gushed

"How in the world did you convince them to do that?"

"Cliff is getting my dad there"

"And I told my mum that it was a surprise reunion of her work colleagues"

"You two are so shady" Ryan laughed as he picked his way through a bowl of Chinese "soon to be shady step siblings"

"And how many day till Logan gets back?" Mac continued, still taking glances down at her phone waiting for another message

"Two more weeks" in all truthfulness Veronica had the exact number of hours running through her head like a timer, she couldn't wait for her life with Logan to begin "Any more questions to ask me in an attempt to deter me from wondering who's socks are on your bedroom floor?"

"Oh my god you are such a snoop" Mac laughed and slightly blushed

"I'm not demanding that you tell me, I'm simply just…." Her smile quipped up as though she was thinking of the perfect retort

"She is just simply demanding that you tell her," Wallace laughed

"Right" she gulped, action had to be taken right now "After the flop of a date you set me up on from that website…"

"Ryan block your ears" Wallace looked on at the friend who held the most eager face he had seen in a long time

"…I decided that there was no harm in doing some investigating of my own, I found a guy on there, we met up for a drink and didn't find each other repulsive and have been meeting up casually since. I didn't tell you because it is just sex…"

"Brother in the room" Ryan said, dropping the gaming controller and putting his hands in the air

"…Sorry. It wasn't important, it's not like your paths were going to cross and it's not like I'm going to introduce him to the family. Plus sometimes its nice when Veronica Mars cant solve the mystery"

"What's his name?" Veronica didn't seem quite satisfied

"Drew" she shot back quickly "Although I'm not sure how much more of him I will be seeing"

"Okay" said Veronica as she crossed her legs

"Okay?"

"Okay" she repeated with a smile

X-x-x-x-x-x

Mac could see the sun rising from outside her bedroom window as she lay in bed, she knew that she had gotten some sleep the night before but her busy mind would activate somewhere between the REM cycles and she would wake up again. Around an hour ago she had decided to not fight it any more, deciding that there was no point to fight it any more she let her mind wander – it wandered to the phone call from her mother, her dad's pale face, Dick springing into action, her brothers tears, her friends persistent questioning and then all the way back to Dick. She let these thoughts overcome her before reaching over to her phone, selecting his number and typing in a message _"You left your socks here" _send

"_I better come and pick them up then" _she could almost here the flirting tone and the smirk that would no doubt cover his whole face _"Want me to pick them up tonight?" _

"_Want to pick them up now?" _she hoped that her almost instant response hadn't sent off desperation warnings

"_Sure. I'll just have a shower and head right over" _

"_Why don't you just shower here?" _she pressed send and then wondered if her flirty banter was too broad _"I can guarantee that there is something in my shower that won't be in yours" _still broad yet knowing his dirty mind she was sure he would work it out

"_I'm on my way" _the response was almost instant

X-x-x-x-x-x

When the knock sounded on her front door she wondered how many speed limits he broke getting there, she checked herself in the mirror next to the door one more time and after deeming herself not too tragic she opened it to his smiling beach swept face and body – the wet suit clung at his hips and a plain white t-shirt covered his chest – something she would be modifying in mere moments.

"Good morning" he smiled at her before she launched at his face and kissed him how she has wished she could have kissed him in the car when he had dropped her home from the hospital "Well you aren't wasting any time" he laughed as they walked backwards through her apartment in the direction of the large doors that opened up and revealed her bedroom. She giggled as his hands found their way up her pyjama top "Is your brother still here?" he said as they took the final steps into her bedroom, she nodded as she bit her lip "Well I guess you are going to have to be quiet then" he said as she shut the doors behind them and pushed him towards her bed

"I'm going to have to be more quiet?" he nodded "Oh MAC! Mmmm yeah MAC" she mimicked his deep voice as she climbed up onto his lap and straddled him "YEAH MAC"

"You've made your point," he laughed as his hands connected with the small of her back and hers rested on his chest "Are these your pyjamas?"

"Mhmmm" she said leaning down so the top half of her torso was connected, not only could she feel his body heat merging with her own, or his heart beat fasten but she could feel that he was becoming harder and harder "What's wrong with them?" she whispered in his ear

"I think that they would look better off of you" he craned his neck up and kissed her and then flipped her so that he was on top and she was on the bottom, he then stood up and she felt her body tense at his disappearance, she lifted her head and looked up at him with concern "I was promised a private tour of the showering facilities" she slowly pulled herself off the bed – half in an attempt to remain sexy and the other half wanted to hide how badly she wanted him right now – Mac walked across to him, grabbed his hand and then dragged him into her bathroom. Once she turned on the shower he spun her around and began peeling off of her clothes – no matter how many times he had slept with her the past couple of weeks he would still catch himself in moments of awe when he saw her naked body, he had always wondered what she had been hiding under those baggy t-shirts as she walked the halls of Neptune high. Mac lifted the t-shirt off his body as soon as it was humanly acceptable to do so and then she ran her fingers from his belly button, through all of the crevices created by the abs that protrude his skin, her touch made him shudder – usually when he had sex with a girl he was in control, the girls he usually slept with came with the expectation that he was the expert and for the best results they should sit back and enjoy the ride, he often found that they were hesitant to make a move in case it wrecked something that he pre-planned or would ask for approval with their eyes before they made that next step – Mac was different, she knew what she wanted and she took it. Now all that was left between their naked bodies was the wetsuit, she knelt down at his waist and began pulling it down and then started laughing "I don't think you are supposed to laugh while you are in that area Mac" he smiled

"It's not you, I cant get this wet suit down" he pulled her up by her arms, smiled at her and then launched his lips at her own

"I'm going to need you to turn around cause this isn't going to be pretty" he said as she let out one last massive laugh before stepping into the shower, her back to him. As he yanked his wet suit off he watched the water run down her back. When he had finally freed himself from his tight constraints he jumped in behind her and began kissing her neck, he stopped for a second and she turned around just as he spat water at her face with a cheeky grin

"So mature" she laughed as he stepped forward, gathered her in his arms and pressed her body hard against the shower wall

X-x-x-x-x-x

**To Be Continued **


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

He walked into the living room with a towel wrapped around his waist, they had gone from the shower to the bed and somewhere afterwards he had dozed off with Mac at his side, when he had woken up she was no longer by his side and panic brushed through him. They were each other's "summer fling" which meant they had never really spent a morning together. On a regular night Dick would come over, they would have sex for a couple of hours, he would fall asleep afterwards – a quick powernap so that he had the energy to focus on his drive home – and then he would disappear in the night. He didn't want Mac to feel as though she had been used and then abandoned but he also didn't want to wake her up – she looked so peaceful in that state, as though the worries of the world were off her shoulders, sometimes her forehead would be furrowed and he knew that her mind was in a space far away from the sexy/happy dreams that he assumed she had about him every other night – When he got to the car he would send her a text, it wasn't his finest work however usually this sort of stuff didn't matter, he would leave when he pleased and text her when he wanted more but those rules went out the window when you actually had feelings for the girl. There she was, as he walked into the kitchen he spotted her, she was wearing the PJ's that he had ripped off of her upon arrival and was humming as she mixed something up in a bowl. He snuck up behind her putting one arm on either side of her body and kissing up and down her neck

"I was wondering when you were going to get out of bed" she smiled turning around as much as his stance would allow her "Why are you still wearing a towel?" she questioned, she was now facing him and was centimetres away from his face

"I don't have any pants" just those words were enough to stir up a feeling in Mac that screamed for him to take her back to the bedroom

"I distinctively remember you not being completely naked torso down when you arrived on my doorstep, believe me I would have remembered that" she winked

"I was at the beach when someone horn-ily texted me, I was wearing a wetsuit"

"Do you have pants in your car?" she asked her hand resting on his bicep, she wasn't sure why but it had seemingly found its own way there "Like a spare pair"

"No Mac, why would someone who does not have incontinence issues and is older than the age of eight need to pack a spare pair of pants?" she rolled her eyes

"You wet your pants till you were eight?"

"It was a camping trip, Logan jumped out pretending to be a bear and I was startled to say the least. We like to pretend it never happened"

"I still don't understand" she moved on "why a surfer wouldn't carry a spare pair of pants, I get that when you are going to the beach your ass is dry but when you are leaving it is wet and no one likes a wet seat"

"Mac, first of all I live on a beach and second, can our first fight not be about why I don't carry around a spare pair of pants" she put her hands up in mock surrender, pulling a face that was so cute that it simply could not be not kissed right there on the spot – as he pulled back she looked surprised but not as though she was against it, in fact he could see the smile behind her eyes as it began to appear on her face "How was last night?"

"Good" she smiled "Veronica and Wallace were in fine form" it seemed odd to talk about them when she couldn't talk with them about Dick "Veronica is anxiously waiting for Logan to get back"

"Well that's one thing that we have in common" a serious undertone swept across his body

"Do you talk to him often?"

"We actually finally got to Skype last night, he couldn't get a hold of Veronica. Other than that it has just been emails. He thinks I'm getting some"

"All that time with Veronica during those crucial years of development have rubbed off on him. What did you tell him?"

"I said 'Dah' I'm Dick Casablancas" he chose not to share the part of the story where Logan had made the executive decision that this look of euphoria had less to do with the sex and more to do with the person that the sex was happening with, but Mac's face, even though he could tell she was going for the subtle look, was clearly not enjoying the last statement "Is Veronica still pestering you about it?" he had never really asked or thought about it since the day he had come into Mars Investigations to get Mac to fix his computer and how Veronica had been so curious about Mac's love life "I know one of the rules was that no one else would know but if she gets the usual Ronnie intense you can tell her, even if that means me suddenly disappearing off the face of the earth never to be heard from again"

"I ended up making up a guy last night, Drew, so that should buy us a little more time" she swore that he looked almost disappointed, something she would have contemplated looking into if it wasn't for the flush of the guest bathroom toilet on the other side of the apartment

"Is that Drew?" he asked, he could detect his own bitterness in his tone and hoped that she remained oblivious to it, how could you be jealous of a man that doesn't even exist. Was she really that ashamed of sleeping with me? Although they had stipulated that if there was someone in the other persons life they wouldn't talk about it – there might not have been a Drew but Mac was gorgeous there could be another guy

"No it's Ryan, Shit"

"What's the problem? He already knows about me. Doesn't he? He would have to be pretty thick to not pick up on that. Clearly didn't get your brains" "He knows, of course he knows. But its weird" her voice was getting quicker and quicker, she knew time was limited as she heard the steps continuing on through the guest bedroom that her brother was currently occupying "I invited him to stay and I don't want to make him feel grossed out or awkward"

"I'll go" Dick said in a state of panic as Mac's thinking process sunk in, as Dick looked around frantically Mac noticed the door knob start to move

"THERE IS NO TIME" she whispered dramatically as Dick took a dive and lay down at her feet just as Ryan walked into the room, Mac picked up her cup of coffee and tried to look as normal as possible "Morning" she was going for casual but it was made abundantly clear that she hadn't reached that target as indicated by the look on Dick's face as she briefly glimpsed down

"You okay Mac? Are you having a mental break down? Do I need to get you a paper bag to hyperventilate into?"

"Of course I'm fine, what's so strange about me saying Morning?"

"It's just too perky, like you are pretending to be a morning person when you clearly are not" she gave him an outraged look, forgetting that the aim of this particular mission was to keep Dick out of sight "Don't be upset, I'm just stating a fact. Example A. the morning that you tried to throw a plate at my head, Example B. the morning that you threatened to chop my fingers off one by one" Dick stifled laughter "Common denominator: Mornings"

"Common Denominator: You were a pain in the ass" he smirked, shrugged his shoulders and then went to walk around the bench, she jumped in his way and he looked at her curiously "Regardless of the common denominator and those mildly exaggerated stories, I am a changed woman. I love mornings, my favourite time of the day is waking up" he looked at her as though to say 'oh really' and she could feel Dick giving her the same look – he wasn't allowed to give her that look, he wasn't supposed to know what a bitch she was in the mornings yet. "And to make up for those past mornings I want to make you breakfast" again he shrugged his shoulders, she thought to herself that the communication skills of the youth of the day were really going down hill before remembering that back in high school and even now she was pulling neck muscles from shrugging her shoulders too much. Mac hustled herself around the kitchen – grabbing bowls, cereal and milk – and Dick certainly wasn't complaining about the angle.

"I'm going to go eat this in my room" he said satisfied with his milk to cereal ratio as Mac handed him a spoon "Oh and" he said with a smirk "Good morning Dick" Mac grimaced

"Don't spill it," she said before looking down at Dick

"I don't think he feels awkward or grossed out" putting a hand on the bench to push himself up, he stood in front of her and she wondered if Dick had issue with understanding the prospect of personal space or if he just wanted to kiss her all the time – god she wanted it to be the second one

"Do you think he is in his bedroom now?" she asked as Dick stepped away from her so he could peer past the kitchen, he turned back and nodded back at her

"What do you have planned for me Mac-alicious?"

"Oh I don't know," she said as she slowly stepped towards him "Just this" she said as she yanked off his towel and ran towards her bedroom doors.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"How am I going to get this back on?" he had asked looking at the wetsuit that he had picked up off of the bathroom floor "Usually I rinse the salt water out of it and then subject it to a very delicate drying procedure"

"How delicate are we talking?" Mac looked back at him through the mirror, she was due at work in just over two hours, but needed to have left the house with at least an hour to spare in order to get past morning traffic and get in at least two coffee's – it was the only way that she could keep up with the flying quips between Veronica and Keith.

"Very" he spoke low with an extraordinary amount of emphasis on the word "Delicately" he added as she giggled in the corner

"Would you like me to help you back into them?" she said as seductively as possible

"Nah" he shook his head "It's not going to be pretty" Dick picked up his wet suit and strolled back to the bathroom, shutting the door behind him and leaving Mac alone to finish her make up. For the next five minutes Mac cried with laughter at the noises beyond that door – there were grunts, swearing and at one point a loud bang as though he had fallen – All she could do was imagine the mental picture of Dick trying to squeeze back into it. When he eventually did make his way out of the bathroom a look of satisfaction and pride was written all over his face, she had controlled her laughter now and was trying to play it cool – as though she hadn't had to re-do her mascara and hadn't nearly winded herself.

"All good?" she asked

"Perfect, feeling thin and trim" he laughed as he sat down on her bed, taking a moment to watch her as she put her earrings in "Well I better get going" dreading the words as they fell out of his mouth

"I'll walk you out" Dick stood up to stand next to her and grazed her hand with his own, she didn't know if it was instinct or reflexes but her hand grabbed onto his and he certainly didn't pull away as she walked him through her apartment. They stopped at the door and looked at each other for a moment and she wondered if she was perhaps smitten, he leant down and kissed her one more time before she stepped forward and opened the door…to Wallace's face.

"Well Hello DREW"

X-x-x-x-x-x

Dick had vacated the premises at the speed of lightening, he had looked at Mac's shocked face, asked if she had wanted him to stay and when she said that she was fine, had thanked his lucky stars and practically ran down the stairs. Mac had invited Wallace inside; continue to stand across from him, as he looked at her bewildered "Do you need a glass of water?" no response "Wallace, you okay?" no response "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see if Ryan needed a lift to school, figured I would save you the trip" he sat down on the edge of the couch "Man, I wasn't expecting that"

"It did happen rather unexpectedly"

"Dick Casablancas?" he looked up at her, the bewildered look was beginning to melt away and the father figure was beginning to rise to the surface "Jesus, Mac. It's Dick Casablancas!"

"I know" she said a surrender in her tone, the truth was she understood the confusion, Mac had never ever expressed feeling anything other than sorry for Dick Casablancas, she certainly never expressed sexual desire "I was like that after the first time…"

"The first time? This has happened more than once? What were you thinking? Surely you remember all the girls that Dick went through at Hearst or even High school"

"I was thinking that it isn't high school anymore"

"No its not but can you remember how Dick treated you in high school? How he treated Veronica?"

"Do you honestly think that if he was still like that I would attracted to him? I was never attracted to him in high school or at Hearst because he was a major Ass but something is different about him now, even you said it after the reunion" she could see him mellow slightly but the uneasiness wasn't leaving him "I cant even begin to justify how he treated Veronica for all those years, Dick and I haven't talked about it but I don't think he can either. But I wouldn't be in this position if Veronica and Dick weren't making some effort to find common ground"

"Then why haven't you told her?"

"I will, I just don't want to disappoint her, especially for something that will be so short term that it will be over before it begins. Its just sex"

"I get that" he contemplated for a moment "It would be more of a public service announcement than anything else, you know so she can get her shots" Wallace quipped

"She isn't sleeping with him"

"I think that any disease Dick has is probably fermented these days, in age and alcohol and is strong enough to break through barriers like skin, get on everything he touches"

"Would the contagion be stronger if his naked butt touched it?" she asked looking from Wallace to the couch that he sat on as he followed her gaze.

"I'm pretty sure I hate you," he said as he landed on his feet from jumping off the couch as fast as he could "Mac" he said stepping towards her, the seriousness was back in his tone "You can do whatever or whoever you want, I'm not judging. But I just want to let you know that I think this is a really bad idea. He may seem like he has changed but you need to be careful, I don't want to see you get hurt"

"I appreciate your concern Wallace, but no one is going to get hurt – there isn't feelings" she lied "it's just sex, there are rules and when the summer is over so is the sex."

"If there is one thing I have learnt from every Romantic Comedy that you and Veronica have made me sit through…"

"Make you sit through" she scoffed

"…It's that people go into these relationships thinking that it'll be a breeze ending it but feelings always develop" she wondered

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Can I ask you a question?" the room was dark and her restless leg was hanging out of the sheet he laughed

"Why is it that you save all the questions till after sex?" she decided it was probably best to remain silent rather than telling him about the article that she read about an orgasm boosting pillow talk "Shoot"

"What happened after Logan pretended to be a bear and you wet your pants?"

"And it's always the hard hitting ones" he laughed again "Logan let me have his but because his legs were like pieces of string they didn't fit my puppy fat legs, so we threw our pants to the wind and spent the rest of the day in our underpants"

"I would hate to think what would have happened if a real bear had of shown up" she was silent for a minute and then broke out laughing

"What?"

"I can just imagine the headlines "bear undresses human in obscure attack""

"In actual fact that was the day that Logan and I became best friends" he settled back into a light sleep

"Dick?"

"Yes?"

"At the hospital you said to my mum that you were working on being a better man, what did you mean?" she could hear him sigh as though he was really considering the conversation

"A year ago I started up a big brothers program" now her eyes were opened, she rolled over onto her side and looked at him

"Tell me about it" she said gently as she put a hand on his bicep

"It's a program that links young boys who don't have a father figure or someone in their lives that they can turn to when they are in trouble with someone who can provide that, someone who isn't going to prey on that vulnerability" she could feel his bicep tense and knew he was talking about Woody "I wasn't there for my little brother and a lot of shit went down, its one of the biggest regrets of my life. I want those boys to feel as though they have someone to confide in and someone that will always be there for them"

"That's really nice," she said as Dick went silent, she squeezed his arm

"So how did the Wallace situation go?"

"He was shocked but I don't think he is going to tell Veronica any time soon"

"Would it really be the worst if people knew about this?"

She thought about this question and then turned to him "You told Logan didn't you"

"Maybe" his eyes were closed but she could hear the uneasy laughter

"Why would you go and do that?" she let go of his arm, hit him with her hand and then rolled back onto her back

"It was a bonding experience, he shared a secret with me and I shared a secret with him"

"What if he tells Veronica?"

"He won't"

"How do you know?" she thought for a moment "How juicy is the secret that he told you?"

"It's practically a juice machine"

"What is it?"

"I can't tell you that, top secret business"

X-x-x-x-x-x

Mac sat at her kitchen table, a cup of tea in her hand and an oversized t-shirt draped over her body as she looked out the window at the apartment complex across from her. On a good night she would sit there with dinner and make up the conversations between the very attractive couple that had moved in earlier that year, it had been more fun doing it whilst Ryan had been around because she had someone to bounce ideas off of. However it was nearly sunrise, Dick had left an hour ago and her friends from across the way were fast asleep – or at least the fact that all of their lights were off indicated that fact. For some reason when Dick had gone to leave and kissed her on the head she had woken up and couldn't get back to sleep. Her phone ping-ed next to her hand, she assumed that Dick must have just arrived back home or was just about to go for his morning surf and thought of something hilarious to test through to her, she keyed in her pin without looking down at her phone as an anticipatory smile appeared on her lips, a smile that disappeared the second she saw who the text was actually from, it was simple and in capital letters and she knew she was a goner, especially at this hour of the morning "I NEED TO TALK TO YOU" she gulped

To be continued


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter eight

Mac bumped her knuckles nervously across the glass of Keith Mars' front door, she could see him happily bounce up the hallway towards the door, bringing her closer and closer to her fate, she didn't know how Veronica was going to react to this news but she didn't anticipate that it would be good

"MAC" he exclaimed gleeful as he threw the door open

"Hey Keith" she smiled back at him "I'm here to see Veronica"

"I did assume that" he motioned for her to come inside, shut the door behind her and then walked her up the hall that had become so familiar in the past couple of months. Veronica had been staying at her dads house since she came back to Neptune from New York, not only was Veronica waiting for Logan to get back so they could reassess where they were at but after Keith's accident it had made sense for her to stay. "I'm glad you are here, she is freaking out" he said as they made it to her bedroom door "She has been pacing for hours now, I could hear her from my room" Keith smiled "Veronica…" Mac nervously entered the door and found Veronica mid pace, the blonde girl turned to face her, an unidentifiable look across her face

"You and Dick can make it to dinner next week right?" Mac was completely lost, this was not how she expected her best friend to respond, she expected it to be one hundred times worse than Wallace's reaction – she was expecting yelling and crying not open arms

"Pardon"

"Geez" she laughed at herself "typical Veronica, jumping the gun and missing vital information. Logan wants us to have a dinner out, the five of us, the second night he is back. Don't ask me why it has to be the five of us" Mac sighed a breath of relief however Veronica continued to pace

"Veronica?" she said warily "What's going on?" the girl looked back at her, teary eyed with a wobbly bottom lip

"I'm scared," she said throwing herself down on the end of her bed "What if Logan gets back and doesn't want me"

"What?" Mac scoffed

" Here me out, Logan and I were separated for nine years, who's to say that the time that we did have together wasn't just us getting caught up in the moment?"

"Are you kidding me Bond?" she sat down on the bed next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, Veronica looked up at her and shook her head – the thing was Veronica put up this tough exterior to the whole world, she was armed with a Taser and a tongue of wit and she wasn't afraid to use them, in fact the latter was her weapon of choice. But beyond all of that was vulnerability, the vulnerability of a girl who had lost so much and persevered but not so secretly couldn't take much more heartbreak – All innocence taken away from her. "As someone who has had a front row seat to the LoVe extravaganza, some times sickening but always adoring. I've seen the look he gets in his eye every time you walk into the room or your name is mentioned and I've seen that same look replicated in your eyes"

"But what if that's not enough? It hasn't been enough in the past?"

"I hate to use Logan's drunk line but your love story was epic, who would have thought that a relationship that was in a vacuum of drama and emotion would last as long as it did while it jumped over every hurdle that Neptune threw at it? Can I tell you something in all honesty?" Veronica nodded "If you hadn't gone to Stanford I have no doubt that you are Logan would have gotten back together and if life had of continued in the way that it was you would have burnt each other out, been emotional spent and definitely not lasted, you both needed to take some time apart and grow up and work yourselves out outside of the drama. You've both grown up so much in the span of that nine years apart"

"When did you become the love expert?" the smile quirking at the side of Veronica's lips let Mac know that she was feeling a little better about the whole situation " Love is looking good on you"

"It's just sex" Mac adamantly stated back

"Just sex, my ass" she said standing up from the bed and walking towards the door

"Well that's an odd sentence" Mac said following her "I betcha Logan is looking forward to getting back to that potty mouth"

"Is it weird that he wants to do dinner with Wallace, Dick and You the second night he is back?" she said retrieving a bottle of water from the fridge " I mean he has been gone for 180 days"

" At some point he will need sustenance" she winked as Keith walked into the room behind them

"I chose to believe that the sustenance you two are speaking of is in some reference to Logan being so boat-lagged that he sleeps through all his meals" he saw Veronica open her mouth "And I wont hear anything to the contrary"

X-x-x-x-x-x

She parked her car at the side of the gym as she saw the men running towards her, she jumped out of her car with a smile "Looking good boys" she yelled as the two men's attention was caught and they jogged up to her

"Cindy" he smiled at her, his eyes squinting past the sun "What are you doing here?"

"Came to make sure that Wallace was treating you right," she grinned over to her friend

"Truth is, we saw you coming and started jogging! We've been eating donuts and talking smack" Mac laughed as she shook her head, she was glad to see him up out of a hospital bed with some colour running through his cheeks

"You'll have a six pack before you know"

"You have your mother wit," he laughed back at her, she smiled at the complement before coming to the realisation

"You are always complaining that mum is not nearly witty enough for your liking"

"Exactly" he smirked before his face went into deadpan dad mode "Now young lady I have a bone to pick with you" she frowned and pointed to herself "You have a boyfriend?" her face blushed instantly

"A boyfriend?" Wallace said outraged, she knew he was thinking back to the conversation they had had the day before

"Sorry Wallace, it appears she is taken" he patted the man on the back, he assumed that the outrage on Wallace's face was due to an unmet fantasy of one day being in a relationship with Mac

"Dad!" she scolded "He isn't my boyfriend, we are just friends"

"Bull, your mum has been obsessing about in every moment that isn't dedicated to my calorie intake," a look a distain at the word calorie was definitely present "she is devastated that you didn't tell her that you had a boyfriend and I've heard all the details of how he answered your phone at three in the morning when I was rushed to hospital" she wasn't even going to attempt to fix this situation, she didn't have the energy, especially when you paired it with the energy it took to not look at the smirking eyes that were burring into her soul "What's his name again?"

"Why?" the teenager, whose parents were prying into her bedroom even though there was a 'do not enter' sign plastered across it, screamed out

"Because I have the right to know the name of the man who is sleeping over at your house and occupying all of your time"

"I wouldn't say all my time." He frowned in her direction "Richard"

"Richard" he said it as though he was considering it for a moment "Do you know this Richard character Wallace?" he put up his hands as though to say 'I'm not getting involved in this family drama' and Sam sighed "Regardless, I would like to meet him?"

"Dad…."

"I know you Cindy, you aren't the rooting and booting type" she felt like gagging and her dad was taking immense pleasure in her discomfort "I cant wait forever to see you riding off into the sunset with someone, I'm a dying man"

"You are not" she slapped him "Don't ever say that" he laughed "Wallace make him run ten more laps just for that comment alone" she said as she walked back towards her car

"I still want to meet him" he yelled to her as she sat down in her car, shit how was she going to get out of this one.

X-x-x-x-x-x-x

She knocked on the door to his beachfront home, despite the humid air, her beige coat hung over her shoulders and she wrapped it tightly around her waist. She knew for a fact that if she took the coat off she would be super cold and super embarrassed. Dick hadn't answered her texts that night about coming over to her house so she was taking matters into her own hands – he opened the door and she felt herself smile just at the sight of him – however the look on his face when he spotted hers wasn't as pleased as she had hoped he would be "Mac" it was as though he was trying to speak quietly, she tried to subtly look past him to see if there was someone else behind those doors

"Sorry" she said as she instinctively wrapped her coat around herself tighter, the thing about Dick was that his face was so readable, like right now he had this look of confusion spreading as his eyebrows burrowed "I should have texted first. Have you got one of your girlfriends in there?" she was trying so hard to play the comment off as a joke but she was sure that she wasn't as convincing as she would have liked to be

"I wish" she could now hear shuffling behind him "Run while you still can" he whispered coarsely at her as the footsteps approached. Mac vaguely recognised the woman that walked towards them, she looked older than the photos that Mac remembered in Cassidy's bedroom all those years ago, her hair was still cropped and blonde but Mac guessed that the colour was now a product of expensive hair treatments

"Richard Jr., Who is this?" the older woman stood next to her son – there were certainly facial features that the two shared

"This is Ma….Cindy, mum" he almost sighed the last word "Cindy, this is my mother Betina"

"Oh I remember you" she smiled, although Mac didn't trust it or the look behind the woman's eyes "I've heard so much about you" it was at that minute that she wondered if what Betina was referring to was what she had heard from Cassidy or what she had heard from Dick, was it wrong to be dating the brother of your dead first love? Even if it didn't feel wrong to her would it feel wrong to anyone else? Maybe that was one of the reasons she was scared of letting Veronica know about this all, Veronica was her moral compass – Veronica seemed to know what was best for Mac before Mac knew it herself "Come inside" the woman said as she turned around and walked into the home as though she owned it "Richard, take her coat" for a moment Mac and Dick just looked at each other, both of their eyes apologizing to each other – Mac for showing up unannounced and Dick for exposing Mac to his mother "DICKIE" his mother yelled out from another room

"Coat?" he asked as she stepped forward, his hands reaching out to grab it, he looked almost hurt when she shrugged him away

"That really wouldn't be a good idea" he took a moment to consider her statement and then laughed

"You really are an exhibitionist" he smirked as he held his hand out to her, she grasped it tightly and he pulled her towards himself, throwing his arm over her shoulder Dick kissed her on the side of the head as they walked towards the living room

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Wow" an exhausted Mac exclaimed, her head thrown back on the headrest of the couch

"Yeah" Dick responded, his mother had just left after barraging Mac with questions upon questions about intentions, life and every other personal topic under the sun

"I didn't think that Betina visited Neptune a lot?" was Mac's nice way of asking why in the world his mother had been here when she had shown up

"Usually she wont step foot in the place, but with the anniversary in the next couple of weeks I guess her motherly instinct or guilty conscience kicked in" he sighed as Mac remembered, that date was always in the back of her mind waiting to pounce at that last minute and pull her into a riptide of raw emotion and heartbreak, this glimmer of heartbreak was mirrored on his face when she finally gained the courage to look over, it broke her heart more

"My dad wants to meet you" she attempted to distract him, or make him smile, either would work for her at the minute, he smiled gently at her, he put his arm on the back of the chair and indicated for her to come forward, her headed rested on his shoulder

"I'm glad that as sex friends we are meeting the obligations of meeting all the parents" he smirked

"Not all of them" she added almost unintentionally

"Very true, Big Dick is still jail house rocking it and no one has seen step mother dearest in years – apparently she rode off into the sunset with a Fitzpatrick brother" while this response did make Mac think about how many gangs were in Neptune, these weren't the parents that she was talking about, not that that was a conversation she wanted to get into now "I would be happy to meet your dad" he added, playing with her hand, intertwining their fingers "Hey Mac"

"Yeah" she looked up into his eyes

"Would you mind if we didn't have sex tonight?" he gulped

"Of course I don't" she tried to hide the concern, it wasn't like Dick to not want sex, although his mother had been pretty ball busting when she had been there and she really had no idea of how long she had been there before Mac had shown up.

"Thanks" she smiled up at him and then went to move "Whoa where are you going?"

"I was going to go home?" there was vulnerability in his eyes "Leave you be"

"Would you stay?" they couldn't break eye contact "Please"

"I don't have any clothes" his eyes perked as though he had forgotten that she was enveloped in a coat in the middle of summer

"I'll let you have the pick of any of my smutty t-shirts" he smiled as she nodded in confirmation. Dick stood up and took her hand as though it was the most natural thing on earth, leading her through his house as he turned off lights and walked her to his bedroom. He only let go of her hand to open the draw, a look of glee spreading across his face as he turned to show her the contents of the draw, Mac stepped forward and started filling through them – the laugh that left her lips as she found a particularly disgusting slogan he felt a weird sensation of pride. She ended up picking the "Senior Shrimp" shirt that he had won after drinking a whole margarita fish bowl on an afternoon third wheel with Logan and Veronica in high school. Mac stepped towards the bed and threw off the jacket to reveal her matching underwear and Dick felt his breath catch as she threw the t-shirt and let it slide down her body

X-x-x-x-x-x

The sun was rising, the curtain wasn't up, but he could tell – he had trained his body to know the time, smell (because yes to him there was a smell) and the sound of it – from the animals starting to wake up outside to the amount of cars on the road. Usually these environmental cues were enough to get him to jump out of bed and be in his wetsuit in under a minute so that he could make the most of the almost abandoned Neptune ocean and the waves that it provided, However this morning he couldn't seem to pull himself away from her. He had been surprised at how sexy Cindy Mackenzie looked naked but the biggest shock had been about how gorgeous she was when she slept and the vulnerability it stemmed within him, her features were even more delicate and sometimes if he was lucky she would unconsciously throw an arm and hit him in the face or have a complete conversation in a dialect that was completely foreign to him, causing a stifled laugh as there was no way he was going to wake her up. This morning he had been extra careful to not wake her up, besides moving onto his side so that he could take a moment to look at her, he hadn't move a muscle. Maybe it was because he was worried that if she woke up she would hurry to leave him alone in this big bed of his.

"I know you are watching me" the sleepy voice grumbled "I can feel those big blue eyes burning a hole in my face" a smile appeared across her face as her eyes opened, it seemed as though she was happy for him to watch her sleep "It's a bit creepy isn't it?" she joked, or he hoped she joked

"I can't help that a beautiful woman is in my bed"

"Where is she?" she attempted to comically look around the bed as he moved forward and placed a hand on her head – gently stroking her hair – the other found her exposed thigh and rested upon it "Veronica wants us to have dinner with Her, Logan and Wallace the second night he gets back"

"Did anyone ever teach you dirty talk? Cause you really missed the mark on that one" he barked out barely able to stop himself from kissing down her neck as his hands found their way up his t-shirt that currently rested on her chest.

"Are you deflecting? Does this have something to do with Logan's secret?" Dick lifted his hands off her body so that, past the body parts the touched because of the position he had taken almost on top of her, they were not touching – even though not touching her killed him

"Cindy Mackenzie, I am trying to ravish you!"

"Sorry" she laughed at the seriousness of his tone "Continue"

To be continued


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter nine **

The three of them stood on the front porch of her parents home – Dick who was nervously fidgeting with the tie that he had insisted on wearing despite the more relaxed dress code of the other members of this family dinner, Ryan stood next to him with his bags at his feet – he had decided that after two weeks sleeping in Mac's spare room it was time to come home back to normality, and then there was Mac, silently crapping herself and Dick's fidgeting was making it one hundred per cent worse – she couldn't take it anymore her hand reach out and slapped his away from the blue tie, he looked up at her outraged.

"OH MY GOD" he smirked "did you really just do that? Have we been married for 50 years?"

"I don't even know why you a wearing a tie" Mac was wearing jeans and a white blouse

"And now the bickering begins, our relationship is going down hill fast" he joked as Ryan laughed behind him and Mac unsuccessfully hid her amusement "and for your information, I wore a tie because I'm meeting the parents and I want to impress them" she rolled her eyes at him as she finally gained the courage to knock on the door to an evening that could go one or two ways – either her dad wouldn't recognise Dick and the evening would go really well or her dad would recognise Dick straight away and the night would be complete and utter chaos. God she hoped that her mothers Dick Casablancas amnesia had rubbed off on her dad. She could see both of her parents beaming faces heading towards the door, but as his parents spotted her the smile on her fathers face completely disappeared and she knew that he knew exactly who Dick was – the tense energy beside her indicated that Dick also recognised the look on Sam Mackenzie's face.

"My babies" Natalie beamed as she opened the door and her arms, while she had recognised that Ryan staying with Mac while Sam settled into a new routine was a good idea – as a woman who ran off the energy of her children she had been a little bit lost without one of them under her roof. "And Richie" she smiled as she enveloped Dick in a hug, Sam reluctantly shook his hand and then focused his fuming energy onto the floor boards connected to the base of the door. "Well aren't you dressed up tonight" Natalie obviously sensed the awkward tension and was trying to do anything in her power to make this situation a little more bearable – it was this that made Mac wonder if she had known more than she had let on in the hospital "I fear it may be a little too dressed up for what I making you eat for dinner" she laughed

"What is it?" Ryan piped up from the back of the group

"Manners Ryan Mackenzie" cheerily she turned her attention back to Dick "You are in for a treat tonight, we are having a family specialty"

"Mackenzie's and Cheese" the two Mackenzie children groaned simultaneously

"Well you try and cater for a vegan and a ravenous teenage boy" Natalie defensively responded, "Now lets get off the porch and get into air conditioned comfort. Doesn't that sound like a good idea Sam?" he simply murmured his response and she tutted next to him "Apparently his low carb diet is making him less chatty" she jabbed as she stepped back to allow the guests into the room.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Sam" Natalie smiled at her husband that sat at the other end of the table, despite the conversation that Natalie was trying so hardly to force feed and the chatter that Ryan made was enough to engage anyone, however Sam Mackenzie refused to participate in conversation with Dick or his own daughter "Richard is the one who brought Cindy to the hospital the other morning, he even stayed and kept us all entertained about stories of how he knew Mac in primary school and had a massive crush on her"

"How the stories change," he mumbled under his breath between blowing on the pasta in his bowl

"And then he drove the kids back to Cindy's as well" she boasted as she smiled at Dick

"One right doesn't cancel out one thousand wrongs" Mac knew that he wanted the people sitting at the dinner table to hear exactly what he was saying but wanted deniability if anyone called him on it, she was getting more and more frustrated by his antics "Look" he put his fork down on the table hard, if people weren't trying to listen to his mumbles before their attention was certainly on him now "I don't think that tonight or any relationship between the two of you is appropriate considering our history"

"DAD" Mac scolded

"History?" Ryan asked looking from his sister, to his mother and then to his father in an attempt to get some form of context on what was causing all the tension within the room

"Maybe you should go and unpack your things baby" still poised with a smile, Natalie turned to face her son

"What's going on? Why are dads knickers in a twist?" he directed the last question to his sister

"You really don't need to hear any of this Ryan" she maintained her mothers position, Ryan loudly groaned – clearly disappointed that he wasn't being let in on the family secret – he had no idea of how left out of the loop he truly was when it came it massive family secrets

"Your family caused our family nothing but pain from the minute that Mac started primary school till Mac was at Hearst" it was as though once Ryan was out of the room all bets were off and the conversation was on

"I'm sorry sir" Dick seemed genuinely apologetic

"So you say that you had a 'crush' on Cindy in elementary school? All the taunts and the ways that you treated her were just an innocent act of pulling the little girls piggy tails" Dick gulped, he didn't want to break eye contact and seem as though he couldn't take the heat, he needed to hear it "Do you have any idea of the nights Cindy cried herself to sleep because something you or your Lackey's said to her that day? Or that she had nightmares for months after the incident with your brother? Or that she was petrified of sleeping at hotels up until very recently? That she hasn't had a serious relationship since? Do you have any idea of the hardship that your family thrusted onto other families simply to meet your own selfish needs?"

"I had no idea sir" he looked as though he was going to try

"Sam" Natalie warned

"You cant judge someone by the actions of their family" Mac couldn't look at Dick as she made the statement, she didn't know if she was talking about the actions of Richard Senior or of Cassidy "I certainly wouldn't like to be judged based upon your antics tonight" she picked up her wine glass and took a large swig

"Quiet frankly Cindy Mackenzie" he had his authoritarian fatherly voice "I am disappointed in you for disregarding all of this information, you barely survived it, and now you have started a relationship with it. You deserve so much more"

"She does" Dick said in a tiny voice "Cindy deserves the world and I don't know if I can even begin to offer it to her, I certainly couldn't back then" he was finding his confidence with each word "I'm not proud of who I was back then and I'm certainly not proud of who my father is but I work on it everyday"

"Not good enough" his nostrils were flaring "you were a schmuck then and as far as I'm concerned you are a schmuck now"

"Well its lucky that you have no say in my love life then" Mac finally broke her silence that stemmed from shock, her dad wasn't the confrontational type of person, he was more likely to brood until the problem disappeared, this was so unusual

"That is enough" Natalie put both of her hands on the hard surface of the table and stood up "I am not watching you have a heart attack over something that you have no control over"

"She is my baby girl, I have the right to state my opinion on the matter"

"You really don't" Mac added trying to fight back tears

"I thought that you were so much smarter than this Cindy"

"Samuel Mackenzie, that is enough, go to your room"

"You are not my mother Natalie" he bit back

"Go!" she went all mama bear fierce and while he mumbled under his breath when he stood up and headed in the direction of the stairway "I'm sorry about the chaotic evening Richie, that certainly wasn't the sort of dinner conversation I was expecting" she put a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him "Now I am going to have some stern words with my husband" as Natalie walked away, Mac stood up and walked across to him – grabbing his hand she dragged him out of the room, up the stairs and into her childhood bedroom.

"Well this is not at all what I expected it to be" he tried to joke but he sounded so sombre

"I am so sorry about that" she kept a tight hold on his hand "I had no idea that he would react like that"

"It's fine, he had valid points" she dropped his hand and scoffed "What?"

"WHY DOES NOTHING BOTHER YOU? AM I EVEN GETTING BEYOND SURFACE LEVEL?" she yelled at him, there was a look in his eye that mixed hurt with amusement she knew that despite the fact that he seemed so insensitive all those years ago

"Truth?" she nodded "in no way do I want to make myself sound like the victim of my own circumstances because I was an active party in the shitty decisions that I made and continue to make" there was something about a serious Dick that turned Mac on "but my life is pretty fucked up, my dad was an egotistical bastard – a trait he passed down to me – my mother never wanted me, my brother – well I don't even think I have the words of the courage to go into that. I had all the privilege and wealth but once Cassidy was gone, I had nothing. I am emotionally stunted and some days I question whether the world even needs me, in all honesty, if I allowed things beyond the surface I doubt I would get out of bed in the mornings. I made a conscious decision years ago, to only let in the things that I can change and the things that make me happy" her hand cupped his face as she focused her energy into not crying, now she felt horrible for yelling at him – even though she knew it had nothing to do with him and more to do with the fact that she needed to get some of this frustration out

"I just want you to let me in" Mac didn't know where the statement came from, certainly not from the girl who was supposed to be his summer fling

"Are you kidding me Mackenzie, You make me happy and I would do anything to change myself for you"

"You don't have to change yourself for me"

"Unfortunately I don't think I can change the way your dad thinks about me or about my family name" her hand dropped but she kept eye contact with a small smile "Cindy" her name came off his lips so delicately "I'm really sorry"

"For what?" she looked up at him a little confused

"All that I put you through, all that my family put you through! I wish I could take it all back, you know that right?"

"Shh" she said stepping forward and kissing him lightly on his bottom lip "I forgave you a very long time ago Dick Casablancas. Do you honestly think that I would be falling for you if you were the same guy that you were back then?"

"Falling for me?" he quirked his eyebrows

"You know in a purely summer fling way" she added as she finally broke eye contact and he laughed

"Can I take you home?" he asked stroking a piece of hair out of her eyes

"I think I will stay here tonight, I can't leave Ryan alone with those nut bags"

"Do you want me to stay?"

"Desperately. However I really don't think that it would be the best idea considering how this evening panned out. But I will see you tomorrow night for the welcome back Logan dinner"

"That you will"

X-x-x-x-x-x

Mac was lying partially covered by the light blanket, her mind wouldn't or couldn't turn off, as she ran through the conversations and regretted that she hadn't jumped in sooner. Her mum and dad had argued well into the evening and she hoped that her brother's loud music had drowned out the yelling. The Mackenzie's may not have been blessed financially but one thing she had up on the 09er crew was the loving embrace of her family – despite the fact that she didn't always see eye to eye with them and the fact that she was very different to the way they were, she always knew that they would be there to hold her hand, that they were a strong family base. She heard of families whose parents would fight constantly about everything, Sam and Natalie Mackenzie had their occasional squabble but usually a well time joke would diffuse the situation. She hated that it had been something that she had brought to the table that had become their catalyst but she had no doubt that the health scare had provided a great amount of stress – and from the sounds of it, the situation with Dick had just been the flood gate.

"Cindy" a knock sounded at her bedroom door "Can I come in?" he asked as she perched herself up in bed

"Of course you can Ry-Bear"

"I've been doing some Googling," he said as he came into the room and sat down in her desk chair "I cant believe that none of you told me about this" he said passing her printed pages of information on the Casablancas family and several articles on Cassidy Casablancas – one that highlighted the fact that authorities had found his distraught girlfriend in a room within the hotel that he had jumped off of – she assumed that Ryan had come to the conclusion that that distraught girlfriend was his sister based upon the comments of their father that she knew he was listening in to just out of sight on the staircase.

"You look freaked," she said putting the articles down on her bed, she certainly didn't need to read them, she had lived them

"Can you really blame me?" his eyes were as big as saucers

"Do you want me to explain?" he nodded as he moved to the opposite side of her bed and looked at her anticipating the beginning of the story "Cassidy was my first love, I always knew about him – I mean he was a Casablancas – but we didn't meet until senior year, he hired me to set up a website for his real estate business and we hit it off, he was really sweet but we faced a lot of controversy – he was an 09er and I was me"

"He blew up the bus, he blew up a plane and he raped a girl" he thought for a moment and turned to her in a deeper state of panic "Was it you? The girl he raped? Is that why you were scared of hotel rooms?"

"God no. Until the night that he jumped off the roof of the Neptune Grande and left me alone and naked in that hotel room with nothing but the fitted sheet to cover myself – Cassidy was sweet and genuine to me – or at least I thought he was. I had no idea what he had been up to behind the scenes, you met him a couple of times" she wondered how they had managed to keep this massive and controversial topic away from Ryan, in fact she was kind of impressed, She had remembered that Sam and Natalie had swept them away upstate to stay at an old farm house with no newspaper delivery and no television minutes after Mac had gotten back from Cassidy's funeral (or more accurately burial – no one had wanted to mourn the loss of a murderer, only his brother Dick who was drunk out of his mind, their Mother who was cold faced and emotionless, and Mac herself) – she assumed that Ryan had attributed Mac's mourning and the sudden move to the fact that her boyfriend had committed suicide.

"Why did he do it?"

"Cassidy was troubled, more than anyone knew. He was molested at a young age, his mother abandoned him, his father and his brother tormented him" it was hard to imagine that the Dick that she was spending so much time with now was the brother of Cassidy, some how they seemed so separate "He was the sidekick and barely had any friends – its certainly not an excuse, but how do you have those piles stacked up against you and turn up unscathed?" she gulped "I guess the most important thing for you to know is that he never hurt me" she put a hand on his knee and smiled at him

"As your brother" he looked at her "I feel that it is my duty to tell you that Dick has a reputation as a womaniser" Mac let out an audible and sharp laugh.

X-x-x-x-x-x

No sooner had Ryan left her bedroom before her mothers head popped in through the crack in the door, she wondered if they were tag teaming it. Her mother was pyjama clad with her blonde hair tied up into a pony tail, she crawled into Mac's bed and lay down next to her "How are you doing kiddo?" she asked

"You knew he was Dick Casablancas from the moment you met him didn't you?" her mother nodded "Why didn't you say something?"

"Because you didn't want me to know, I saw the look on your face, I can read you like a book Cindy Mackenzie" she pressed her nose "I also believe in second chances and I could tell that he was trying so hard"

"He was wasn't he" she smiled at her mother

"I trust your judgement Cindy" she hugged her tighter

"How come dad doesn't?" her voice wavered, she felt as though she was five years old again and she was asking her mother for comfort and understanding after her father had scolded her

"Baby, you have to understand it from his perspective. You are his little girl; you always will be regardless of any circumstances. We watched you go through all of that horrible stuff with Cassidy and we had to watch as you tried to rebuild yourself after it." She took a moment to consider her next words "Can you understand why it would be hard for your dad to come to terms with the fact that there is another man in your life and then have to find out that it's Dick Casablancas, the one who tormented you all of those years and whose namesake broke you the last time? Who am I kidding, I know you understand, otherwise you would have just told us from the start"

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Are you ready to rock and roll?" he said as he jumped into the car that was parked in his driveway, she couldn't help but smile at him

"Someone is excited that his partner in crime is home," she laughed as Dick grinned proudly back at her and she hit the road. They had coordinated over text that they would carpool to this dinner, with the excuse that there was no point in taking two cars to get to the same location – especially since Dick had 'left his keys' somewhere and could not find them and therefore needed a lift.

"You look exceptionally beautiful tonight" he hadn't taken his eyes off of her since he had gotten into the car "So what is our game plan?"

"I don't know, how about lets not tell Veronica that we are having sex or mention sex and just act normal"

"She is going to know something is up if I don't talk about sex"

"Well then talk about sex, just don't mention sex with me" she turned

"No can do" she gave him a sideways glance "The only naked body I've got on file right now is yours, I cant guarantee that I wont give away something incriminating"

"Is there anyway that you could convince her that you've got strep throat and wont be able to speak all night?"

"Lets park this conversation, all I can think of right now is your naked body, I think that there will be some pretty BIG clues that I am sexually attracted to you" he indicated down to his pants

"Well stop thinking about me naked" she scolded as she noticed the constraints beginning to appear "Think of something gross"

"Has that ever worked for you?" he asked sarcastically

"No, but its usually not an issue because I don't have a penis"

"That's it you're going to have to pull over," he said looking at her in dead seriousness

"We are not having sex on the side of a road," she said as she looked around at her surroundings

"There is a beach over there, the car park is relatively abandoned at this time of night"

"How abandoned is relatively abandoned?" she asked as she bit down on her lip

"Abandoned enough" he said as his hand found its way up her thigh

"We will be so late" she said as she pulled over into the car park

"It will really sell the lost keys story," he said as she parked and he pushed his seat back, she jumped across onto him as his hands explored her body.

X-x-x-x-x-x

Dick and Mac had walked in with each other about twenty minutes after they were supposed to arrive, after checking themselves out in the bathroom at a gas station up the road, they had walked in and she had lost Dick the second that he had spotted the tall and lanky brunette man, it was nice to see the radiant look on Veronica's face – this had been the moment she had been waiting for, the moment that almost made up for the 180 days that they had had to spend apart. She walked over to the group as Dick dislodged himself from the hug and walked over to take a seat next to Wallace as he said hello to the other two

"Logan" Mac smiled, the two had become quite close after Veronica left them for Stanford, and it had been hard at first because they both actively avoided the topic of Veronica, but once common ground was established a friendship had been made. She wrapped her arms around his torso "I've missed you"

"What took you guys so long to get here?" Veronica asked as she took a sip of water

"Yeah we have been waiting for you for hours, what in the world were you two doing?" Wallace smugly said as he perused the menu

"This Idiot has lost his keys, got a desperate call from him as I left my house" Mac said as she sat down next to Veronica and across from Dick

"But your houses aren't far apart?" Wallace added and Mac made a mental note to kill him afterwards

"Dick took one look at my car and decided that he wanted to have one more look for his keys" he shrugged his shoulders

"The main thing is that you are here now" Logan said, an arm extended over Veronica's shoulder "And now we can tell them all"

"What are you two up to?" Wallace asked as Mac looked to a satisfied looking Dick, this was going to be the reveal of Logan's big secret, Veronica lifted up her hand and revealed the biggest glistening rock that Mac had ever seen

"OH MY GOD" Mac screamed throwing her arms around her best friend as Wallace and Dick got up from their chairs to do the congratulating, as Wallace congratulated the happy couple Dick snuck up behind her "This was Logan's big secret wasn't it?"

"Now you understand why I wasn't worried that he was going to tell Ronnie about us" she could feel his hot breathe up her back

"We obviously want you guys to all be involved, otherwise you wouldn't be the first group of people – other than my dad – that we told. Mac and Wallace will you be my maids of honour?"

"And Dick will you be my best man?"

"Obviously" the beach babe answered, giving his friend another hug "As a groomsmen I get my pick of the bridesmaids right?" Veronica rolled her eyes comically

"Yes!" Mac said as everyone turned their attention to her – the boys because they all knew about Dick and Mac's currently arrangement and were surprised that she had chosen this moment to reveal it and Veronica because she wasn't quite sure what her friend had just agreed too "You are welcome to have Wallace"

**To Be Continued **


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter ten

"What?" she mumbled through the pillow that her face was pressed against, all she could feel was a warm hand on her left bum cheek. She had been sleeping over at Dick's house for the past three nights "Dick" she forced one eye open to look up at him, a focused look was poised on his face and he didn't even register her voice "Dick" she shoved him

"Huh?" he was pulled out of his haze

"Are you okay?" she asked lifting her head off the pillow slightly "You look pretty zoned out"

"Sorry" he smiled down at her, then realised where his hand was positioned and smiled wider "Was just thinking?"

"About what?" Mac let her head fall back onto the pillow and closed her eyes as keeping them open became more difficult

"Thongs" he answered quickly and her eyes popped back open

"As in?"

"The underwear"

"Fantasizing are we?" she laughed

"Nope! I don't understand them" he felt her watching him, feeling the confusion as she waited for him to fill the silence "I've been with a lot of girls, and I mean a lot – blondes, brunettes, red heads…."

"Move this story along," she mumbled again, forcing a smirk on Dick's face

"Alright, sorry" he laughed "Despite all the experience, I've never liked them – why in the world would a lady want to have a permanent wedgie"

"It astounds me how intellectual our pillow talk is" she rolled over

"Surely it would be cheaper to just not wear any underwear at all" she moved out of the bed and his hand fell onto the bare mattress "Where are you going?" he asked as his eyes followed her as she got up, threw on a t-shirt "You are still welcome to parade your thong collection for me"

"Shut up" she affectionately said as she turned around to face him "I'm going to get some water, you idiot," she laughed

"I still know how to turn you on," he said as she picked up a wayward pillow off the floor and threw it will full force at his face. From the way that she glided towards the steps it was clear that she was getting the layout of the house down, she headed down the stairs slowly in the dark – allowing for her hand to drape down the bannister – she was unaware of the reasons why but for the past couple of days there had been a seemingly permanent grin plastered across her face, maybe it had something to do with the fact that almost everything in her life at the current moment was peachy – business was picking up, she was surrounded constantly by people who she loved and who loved her back, Logan was back safe and sound from his deployment which not only lifted a cloud from her mind but meant that Veronica was incredibly happy and incredibly engaged, she was having glorious sex, her family had stopped having health scares and despite the fact that he wasn't at all impressed by her choice of sex partner, Mac had gone over for lunch to clear the air one afternoon and while he made it very clear that he stood by his arguments they had a grown up discussion about it being Mac's decision and that at the end of the day he would inevitably support her decisions – even if they were crazy, she felt more connected to her family than she had in a long time. She made her last step into the bottom level of Dick's beach house, while she anticipated that her next steps would be to the right and in the direction of the kitchen, a large object stopped her in her tracks, a large object that grabbed her arms, causing a loud survival instinct scream to come out of her, her father had always said that if she ran into a bear on one of their trips to the woods and they had made eye contact with it that she should scream – so that he could come and find her – and then to make all efforts to get away from it. This was a philosophy she lived by to this day, so within mere seconds of being captured by this unidentifiable object, Mac –realising that moving her arms was going to be a significant challenge – threw her foot down hard – knowing she hit her target when a large gasp of pain and a string of expletives came from her attackers mouth, she turned to run back up the stairs "Shit, Mac" she stopped in her tracks, recognising the voice

"Logan?" she questioned into the dark as thudding came from upstairs, clearly Dick wasn't taking his sweet time in springing into action

"Freeze scumbag," Dick said with a baseball bat in his hand, fulfilling all fantasies about being a cheesy detective in one of the crime shows that he and Logan binge watched together, Mac could hear him but couldn't quite place him in the dark

"180 days of active duty and not a scratch, a week in Neptune and I think I have a broken toe," he said as he searched for the light switch – soon finding it and illuminating the room

"It was Logan?" Dick turned to Mac and looked at her with a mixture of bemusement and confusion "You screamed like a banshee and it was just my roommate?" she swore that there was a hint of adoration behind those big blue eyes

"It was dark and I wasn't expecting him. I assumed that you," she turned her attention to Logan "Would be spending every minute with Veronica" a moment of horror overtook her

"She is at home," he responded as though he already knew what the panic was about, she felt bad that her instant reaction had been to determine that Veronica was no where near the beach house so that she didn't find out about her little tryst with Dick "It's a little weird being there when Keith is home – feels like high school all over again. It was fine when he was sleeping at Mrs Fennel's, but I'd much rather get a good night sleep here then be wide awake at Veronica's picturing Keith sharpening the knives. At least I thought it would be easier to get to sleep here" he eyed them both off as though he was a scolding parent who had told their child to go to sleep hours ago, however despite the instruction the child had kept making noise.

"Sorry man" Dick said with a smirk on his face that said in itself that he really wasn't sorry "Want to go for a surf in the morning?"

"Sure thing" Logan smiled as the two headed back up the stairs "Oh Mac" she turned to face him "Might be a good idea to wear pants now that I'm back" she could here the joke in his tone but took the moment to realise how ridiculous this picture would look to someone who left over 180 days ago when the interactions between Dick and Mac had been minimal and usually accompanied by an eye roll of some form – now she was standing on his stair case in nothing more than her underwear and a t-shirt that barely covered past her underwear, whilst Dick stood next to her in nothing but his black cotton briefs

"Don't even think about it" Dick said in response to Logan's comment as he linked hands with her and dragged her back up towards his bedroom as she tried to pull the t-shirt down to cover her more.

X-x-x-x-x-x

It had been a long time since Logan and Dick had been surfing, over 180 days, and there was no hiding Dick's excitement as he waited at the back door for Logan to wetsuit up. Logan had realistically been the only constant presence and support in his life for a long time and those 180 days without him had been hard. Now they sat paddling in the brisk water as the summer sun rose and created beautiful glaring patterns in the water that surrounded them, he had been back for a week now, so the two had caught up on all the events that had occurred for them separately in the time that they had been apart, however they were yet to discuss one of the most massive things to have happened in Neptune while Logan had been away – Dick and Mac. He had guessed that if Logan didn't ask then he would have more deniability when it came to Veronica and when she inevitably found out about this pairing – because he was well and truly keen for this to last longer than a summer and he would need nothing more than the confirmation from Mac to make it happen, her confession of growing feelings at her parents house had been a step in the right direction. However, now that Logan had come face to face with the pair – half naked and heading back towards his bedroom – it was clear that they were going to have to have this conversation.

"Tell me about Mac" Logan gritted, not because he didn't approve, he just didn't understand the logistics of it

"Yes we are having sex"

"Thank you captain obvious" he laughed, "Tell me how it happened?"

"Well you have Ronnie to blame for that one" Logan's ears perked up at her name – just as they always did – regardless of story content. "Apparently Mac was going through a bit of a dry spell, so your lady love signed her up to some dating site and we ended up on a half-blind date"

"What are YOU doing on a dating website?"

"Hello? A place with a vast body of women? I think the real question would be why didn't Dick Casablancas get on dating websites sooner" Logan laughed

"So is it serious?" Dick faced the beach and focused on the specks of people running across the beach, he had to force his head to not look over in the direction of his house – more accurately his bedroom window to see if she had turned the light on yet "I'll take that as a yes" he forgot that Logan could read him like a poorly written book

"Her dad hates me" he paddled "Not that I blame him, I'm hard to love" Logan was silent for a moment as though he was contemplating how to go about his next sentence "The correct response" Dick prompted "Is 'Dick you are a puppy, how could anyone not love you'" he joked

"Dick" Logan said as he turned to face him "You are a puppy, how could anyone not love you?" they both laughed "But seriously, I know you Dick and lets face it your reputation isn't exactly stellar, and don't take this the wrong way because I know how bad ass you really are, when you love something, there is nothing more precious in the world"

"Awe" Dick said after a moment to contemplate "You are such a marshmallow"

"If it makes you feel better, sometimes I still get the feeling that Keith resents me"

"Well you did drag his one and only daughter all the way back to Neptune and away from her spiffy career as a Lawyer in New York"

Logan glared at him "What? Are you working for him now?" Dick laughed and threw his hands up to feign surrender "It'll take years and years for you to realise that it has nothing to do with you and everything to do with the fact that you are never going to be good enough for their little girls"

"Helpful advice"

"One of the only things you can do is stick it out and show him that you are in it for the long run and you will support her as long as she breathes. If you can do that, he'll never admit it but there will be some respect lying just below the surface and if not Sam Mackenzie and Keith Mars can start their own bowling league"

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Hey" she said as she threw the door to the apartment open – her face glowing – the summer sun was doing wonders for her skin and her attitude

"Hey gorgeous" he said pulling her towards him and kissing her with an intense passion, he pulled away from her and watched as she opened her eyes – the smile never leaving her face. "Are you alone?" she crinkles her nose

"Not exactly" she bites her bottom lip, anticipating his disappointment

"Hi" like clockwork his little head pops around the corner, a grin that mimics his sisters – little does he know that he recognises it from a different sister

"I thought you moved home," he said with a smile as Mac pulled him into the threshold of her apartment "I can deal with hanging out with your brother"

"What's going on?" another voice came from beyond the hallway that they stood in

"Cindy and Dick are making out in the hallway" Ryan answered matter of fact-ly as he walked back up the hallway towards the other voice

"Subtle" the other male voice pipped up

"Wallace is here as well," Mac said turning from the voices back to Dick "We are having a board games night"

"Do you want me to go?" they were sex friends so if she told him that she did want him to go he would understand that it wasn't a reflection of his performance but more a separation of the two worlds

"Stay" she said with a delicate smile as she shut the door behind him, he hadn't realised until the moment the words left her lips that he had been holding his breath.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Are you a woman?" Mac asked perched behind the red "guess who" board at her kitchen table across from Dick behind the blue board

"Go fish" it had been funny the first three games but now he was maintaining the joke just to watch the look of exasperation cover her face – Ryan wasn't joking when he said that his sister had a mean competitive nature "Are you part of an 80's pop cover-band?" she gave him the most serious look that he had ever seen cross her face "What? Look at Basil and tell me that that doesn't fit his description perfectly" he bit back before taking a swig of his beer

"No" she said as he exaggeratedly put down the 'Basil' face tile to continue on with the game as Wallace and Ryan smirked from a safe distance "Do you have glasses?"

"Yes" she looked satisfied as she put down the tiles that didn't correlate with the description "Are you particularly sexy?"

"DICK" her exasperation had hit a new level

"What?" he feigned innocence

"Can you please take the game seriously?"

"It's 'Guess who' I'm taking it as seriously as you are supposed to take it" he smirked

"Be careful man, 'Guess who' was her favourite game when we were growing up"

"I think that if you really wanted to take the game seriously Cindy Mackenzie you would answer the question, Are you particularly sexy?" he stated the question slower

"It's a stupid question, it's subjective, and it needs to be a yes/no question"

"It's really simple Babe, I know your taste in men"

"Diseased?" Wallace added from the corner

"Just tell me if your picture takes your fancy like Jett McCleary does?" at that point Mac cracked and broke into hysterical bouts of laughter

"Is nothing sacred?" she turned to Wallace

"Jett McCleary as in the used car salesman?" a confused Ryan pipped up

"The one and only" Wallace said with a laugh

"You think he is hot?" Ryan asked his sister as all the boys turned their attention to her "he is older than dad"

"It was a brief lapse in judgement" she laughed "are you James?"

"HOW DID YOU DO THAT? You've got five options there and you pick the exact one that I have"

"What can I say? I can ALWAYS guess who, it's my superpower"

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Mac" he warningly spoke, not sure if she was asleep on his lap or just eerily quiet "Are you awake?"

"Yeah" she mumbled back and he knew that she was on the verge of not being "Tonight was fun"

"It seemed more like a date than a sex friend evening together" his line of questioning involved a lot of dancing around the subjects that he truly wanted to talk about because he was so scared that he was going to mess it up – the way that he usually did.

"Is that okay?" he could hear the hesitance in her voice

"Not really"

"Oh" she could hear the disappointment in her own tone "If you feel like this is the end of the summer, just let me know. I'll understand you really don't have to spare my feelings"

"No" he added quickly realising what his previous statement implied "It's just that I was hoping our first date would be a little more intimate and involve significantly less men – in fact it would just involve this one man" she turned around in his lap so that she was facing him, her eyes – finally opened – rested upon him as a smile crept up her rose tinted cheeks

"Technically" she smiled up at him "We've already had our first date" he quirked an eyebrow "When we met at the coffee shop"

"Does it count as a date if one of the participants runs like a chicken after five minutes?"

" I did not run like a chicken"

"Ah yes you did, don't even try to deny it" he said moving a wayward hair from her face

"Okay fine, I ran away like a chicken. But I did also make the first move"

"And I'm very glad you did" he gulped at his own admission "Can we try again?" she nodded – trying to ignore the butterflies in her stomach and the voice in her head that sent up warning signals, spitting back at her that this was only supposed to be a summer fling.

X-x-x-x-x-x

Veronica walked into the small café, she looked around and upon realising that Mac hadn't arrived yet, headed towards an empty table and took a seat facing the door, rubbing her engagement ring against her top lip her eyes sparkled to match the ring – there was nothing that was more exciting or happiness eliciting than the fact that the love of her life was back in town and that – despite it's clichéd nature – she was going to spend the rest of her life with him. Right now she was happy in her Love bubble and nothing in the world could possibly burst it. A waitress bustled over to the table, a smile on her face as she made eye contact with Veronica and pulled out her pad

"Can I help you Ma'am?" a southern drawl left her lips

"Just waiting for a friend, but I'm happy to take some of that coffee off your hands" she beamed and then dimmed her enthusiasm, that response in the past would have caused a massive cringe on her behalf.

"That I can do for you" as the waitress craned her head to pour the coffee into Veronica's cup rather than her lap, Veronica became mesmerised with her face – or more accurately a certain facet of this ladies face – there was slight bruising around the peak of her nose and a distinct makeup line that Veronica assumed was covering up a scar

"Are you Pam?"

"Sure am," she said pointing to her nametag with her free hand – something that Veronica had clearly overlooked in her gleeful enthusiasm

"Can I ask you a random question?" she took a sip of her coffee to prepare herself

"Shoot"

"A couple of months back I set my friend up on a blind date, she met the guy here, I talked to Mandy and she said that you were working that table" she knew that Mac had tried to clear up any curiosities and was supposably "friends with benefitting" with some guy called Drew, but nothing quiet killed the Mars curios nature, especially Mac's reluctance to talk about anything related to the date from the moment that it happened.

"Lot's of blind dates and lots of tables served" she shrugged "Do you happen to have a photo of your friend?" Veronica pulled out her phone at the speed of lightening and pulled up the group photo that she had made the waiter take as he walked past "Oh yeah, those two"

"Those two?" Veronica pulled the phone back to herself to make sure that the photo hadn't accidently disappeared and brought up a new one "Oh, no. I don't mean these two" with the phone, pointed back at Pam, Veronica pointed to Mac with one finger and Wallace with the other "We do come in a lot, I just mean her"

"I don't mean him," she said pointing to Wallace again "I mean these two" she pointed towards Mac and Dick, Veronica started perplexed at the photo on her phone, was this Mac's secret? Had Dick been her mystery date?

To Be Continued


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter eleven

"Where is he?" she demanded, as the door to the beach house was pulled open

"Ah, Veronica. You have that crazy look in your eyes again" Logan smirked

"Where is Dick?"

"What has he done this time?" he asked as she let herself in and headed towards Logan's bedroom on the bottom floor of the house

"He has been his regular slippery self, and just after I thought that I liked him again too" she sat down on the end of Logan's bed, she was still trying to wrap her head around what the waitress said and what that implied, and now that she knew Logan was in the beach house she knew that she wasn't going to be able to get her hands around Dick's neck to kill him or get a decent answer from him "Why does he have to be a Dick all the time?"

"My sweet, you are going to have to use your words if you want me to attempt to understand" he kissed her hand as he sat down next to her on the bed

"He tricked Mac into going on a date with him, well actually he tricked me into setting him up on a date with Mac. And what for? To humiliate her? Make a joke at her expense?" Logan stayed completely silent "Like she needs to be traumatised by another Casablancas"

"Dick isn't Cassidy" he remembered the night that Cassidy had jumped off the roof, running down the halls of the Neptune Grande to a room that he hadn't been to in his time at the penthouse and finding Mac sitting on the floor sobbing and wrapped in a sheet. He also got to watch the process of Mac getting over Cassidy between the time of his death through to their first year – living it vicariously through Veronica and later on through direct contact with Mac – even to this day he sometimes still saw the look in her eye that said she was thinking of him, he recognised it from the same look his best friend got.

"You know something" she eyed him curiously, even though they had been separated for years and 180 days, she could still read the facial expressions as they fell on his face

"I'm pleading the fifth" he smiled back at her squeezing her hand

"I'll let you off on this one for now Echolls, but only because Mac had common sense and made it out of this situation and then found someone decent to get off the celibacy express" she smiled at him and then her eyes widened "Logan Echolls!" she gritted "I know that look you aren't telling me something"

"I don't know what you are talking about sugar plum," he said standing up from the bed and walking out of the room – he figured his best response was to get the hell out of dodge

"Did they have sex?" she chased him out of the room, her short legs meaning she practically had to jog behind his short ones "Is that why she didn't tell me that she met up with him?"

"I'm not saying a thing"

"She would have definitely mentioned that it had been Dick Casablancas cause she knows it would spook me out of making her go on more blind dates, she must have had the quickie in the bathroom like I had suggested" Logan looked down at the kitchen bench "You shifty eyed bastard what are you not telling me?" she was starting to get frustrated "We cant build a marriage on a lie"

"I just can't believe that a private detective can be so naïve" he smirked as he watched her think for a moment and then realise

"There is no summer fling called Drew is there?" Logan shook his head "Mac and Dick have been sleeping together this whole time?" he nodded "Oh man" she sat down on a stool "Why didn't she tell me?"

"Probably thought that you would react like a champ, storm over to Dick's beach house and give him a buzz from Mr Sparky" she sulked

X-x-x-x-x-x

Wrapping her arms around her body she walked out of her bedroom towards the smells that wafted through the open doors, her eyes squinting as they tried to adjust to the light. She had woken up and he wasn't beside of her, she worried that this had all become too much for him and that he had buckled in that fear, right up until her nostrils picked up. He stood in her kitchen, humming away as he stirred whatever was on the hotplate in front of him, as if noticing her presence he turned around to face her and smiled

"Good morning" he noticed her expression and quickly picked up a cup as he moved towards her "I know you aren't a morning person so drink this" she looked up at him as he passed her the cup and kissed her forehead

"I'm not not a morning person" she sulked as she sat down at the kitchen bench

"Would this not not a morning person like some breakfast?" she looked around at the plates – filled with bacon, eggs, sausages and toast

"I appreciate the sentiment" she gulped "But I'm a vegan"

"I know" she thought that she was going to have to explain to him what being a Vegan actually entailed. He pulled a large bowl out from behind his back and placed it in front of her "That's why I made you this" she looked down at the fruit salad he had prepared for her "And I brought my own pans so that I didn't contaminate yours" she reached up and placed both hands on his face, drawing it down so that she had less distance to make up in order to make-out with him "Wow you are easy to please" he smiled against her lips

"So when is our date?" Mac asked, lifting a piece of watermelon to her lips

"Ah the date that you haven't mentioned since I brought it up? I thought you had chickened out"

"Just waiting for the perfect moment" she smiled up at him

"How about tomorrow night?"

"Short notice" she tutted "How do you know that I don't have plans with some eligible bachelor?"

"I know for a fact that you do"

X-x-x-x-x-x

Mac was sitting at her desk when Veronica skipped in, she assumed that it was just follow up happiness from getting to be connected to Logan at nearly every minute of the day. This was how Veronica had been the minute that Logan's feet safely hit the ground in Neptune, this aura of bliss following her with every step – except for the first morning that she had to say goodbye to him so that she could go to work. "Mac! Can we please go for lunch? I feel like I've been neglecting you"

"If this is anything like the last time that you enticed me out for lunch in the middle of a work day then I'm really not interested" she stated matter of fact-ly as she continued to type

"Believe me I've learnt my lesson, no more blind dates for you – I really enjoy your Christmas cards and I'm pretty sure that if I played that move again I would be off the list"

"Very true" she looked up from the computer

"I just realised that I have spent the past couple of weeks in my bliss bubble and the few weeks before that obsessing about Logan coming home and I haven't really dedicated any time to Mac, especially in a time when you are going through so much" Mac looked up at her curiously "You know with your dads health scare. So lets get lunch! I've already cleared it with Dad"

"Okay" Mac beamed as she stood up and grabbed her handbag heading towards the door with Veronica

"How is your dad doing anyway?" she asked, linking her arm through Mac's

"He is doing good, mum has him on a pretty strict diet and Wallace has him on a very strict workout routine – dad is pretending not to enjoy it but you can tell he is feeling better"

"Good. And how is Drew?" she noticed Mac gulp as they walked out the front door of Mars investigations into the summer sun "still summer flinging it?"

"Drew is good"

"Just good?" she probed

"Really good" Veronica could see the girlish smile that Mac was trying to conceal

"Tell me about him" Mac looked at her as though she was trying to read her intentions "I know that he isn't ready to meet your – not overbearing but loving friends = but I really want to know all about the guy that is giving you that look"

"I haven't been this happy in a long time" she nervously gushed, yes it was clear that one day Veronica would work out who Mac was really dating and shit would undoubtedly hit the fan, but while it lasted she was going to take this opportunity to talk about this guy that she was really starting to have feelings for with as little specific detail as possible

"I thought it was just supposed to be a summer fling?"

"It was, I guess it still is, I don't think we really know where this is going"

"What do you want to happen?" Mac was hesitant "Really truly?"  
"He, Drew, asked me on a date"

"Is that a good thing? Or is it complicating the summer fling 'vibe'" she air quoted

"We are having a really good time together, and the sex is great" Veronica hoped that her cringe wasn't visible to the human eye "I am worried that its going to screw everything up but I think I owe it to myself to ride it out. I haven't really had a relationship in a long time, there has been the occasional guy but I've never fully been able to let my walls down – not since…" she stopped herself

"Is he the relationship kind of guy?"

"If you asked me four weeks ago I would have scoffed but I look into his eyes and I listen to how delicate he is in selecting his words around me and I wonder, I truly wonder if he wants this to be more than a summer fling. But what if I'm reading into this? What if its just some part of the act and I'm falling for it?" she had to admit it was nice being able to talk to her best friend about it, even if her best friend wasn't getting all of the information

"Do it" it took all of her strength to say it but Veronica did "I say take the risk"

"You are just saying it because you are in your love bubble and you think that everyone should be as happy as the two of you, but Drew and I are not you and Logan"

"Are you kidding? Logan and I are epic, you cant beat epic" she laughed " I think this might be good for you, I know that we aren't ever supposed to talk about this but ever since it all happened back in high school you've been sheltering yourself off from men, running at the first sign of trouble, panicking that your life is going to be altered beyond repair for the second time in your lifetime, but you cant hide forever and I think that if a man comes along that makes you smile like that" she pointed to the goofy grin that was bubbling at the surface "and makes you feel the way that he clearly does, then you need to make that leap"

"What if he doesn't want to?"

"Then he is the biggest idiot in the world because you are Cindy Mackenzie and you are legitimately the bees knees"

X-x-x-x-x-x

This was the most stressful experience of her whole life, Mac stood in front of the mirror, critiquing in her mind every portion of her body – from her hair that just wouldn't sit right to her knobbly knees that were exposed by her short black dress that she hoped desperately that Dick would like. What was it about dinner with a prospective lover that made someone so nervous? He had seen her naked too many times to count, they had kissed, they had slept over at each others houses, he had made her breakfast and now it was time for the step that in a regular relationship would have occurred before all of it and she was sweating bullets. Running through her head was topics that she could spurt off if conversation lagged, and she had stuffed a fifty in her purse so that if the date went horribly wrong she would be able to catch a taxi home because he was picking her up to take her to an undisclosed location. She didn't know if the butterflies in her stomach were from excitement or nervousness but she was embracing it, who knew, if this date went like she wanted it to go then this could well and truly be the start of something beautiful. Her phone beeped at the other side of the room and she pounced at it, the message wasn't from him but while she was responding to it she noticed the time and the fact that Dick was officially two minutes late – Mac didn't think to much off it because she knew that traffic could be a nightmare in Neptune – but took the opportunity to send him a quick text

"Don't worry I'm nearly ready" she pressed the green button and sent the message off into the great unknown. After one final check in the mirror, Mac walked towards her couch, taking a seat far away from the front door so that when he arrived she had a little distance to cover and didn't look overly eager. It had been around ten minutes of sitting on the couch before her phone pinged again

"Cant do tonight" was all it said. Fighting back the tears that were spurred on by disappointment that threatened to pour down her face, Mac locked her phone and threw it down next to her.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"I'll get it" Veronica said as she shut the fridge door, walked past her two boys sitting on the couch and walked to the front door, her head tilted to the side and a look of confusion covered her face as she looked through the glass and saw her friend standing there

"Hi" the short woman timidly waved "I brought beer"

"She knows the password" Keith yelled from his position on the couch, she moved back slightly to look through the living room window – Logan was sat down next to him, a slightly confused look on his face but also a sympathetic smile

"Come in" Veronica smiled

"I'm not interrupting family time am I?"

"First of all you are family and second the boys are doing the macho thing – adjusting their jockstraps and eating ribs" she lowered her voice in order to impersonate them "You would actually be doing me a public service by coming in and saving me from them" she said stepping back to allow for Mac to enter the small home "So" Veronica gulped, wondering if this was a safe topic to broach "I thought that you had a date tonight" she shut the door behind them

"He cancelled at the last minute" she tried to play it off as though it wasn't something that had affected her but she knew that Veronica could tell that it was all a lie, she could see Veronica look over her shoulder at Logan and give him a look

"Was there a reason?"

"Nothing, not even a "my cat is sick", just a text ten minutes after he was supposed to pick me up that said "Cant make it tonight"" she could see out of the corner Logan standing up – she presumed that he was going to check on the whereabouts of his best friend

"Come in and adjust your jockstrap home girl" Veronica said putting am arm over Mac's shoulders

X-x-x-x-x-x

Mac wasn't going to lie, she had had a lot to drink the previous night at Veronica's – she had woken up with the biggest hangover and the plan to have the quietist night possible that evening – and so far it was working in her favour. She was wrapped up in her pyjamas with a bowl of popcorn, trying desperately to forget the night before, to stop thinking about all the possibilities of why Dick had cancelled on her. From that last literal line of communication, she had heard nothing from him and if she didn't know that Logan was definitely on the case then she might have worried. There was a knock on the door and she knew it was him – no one else would show up at this hour of night on her doorstep unannounced. After a moment of consideration – where she contemplated pretending that she wasn't home – Mac placed her bowl of half-eaten popcorn to the side and walked towards the door. Taking a big breath in she peeked through the peephole – he was just a beautiful as usual but she didn't want to be the girl that took shit and then forgave the guy the second he showed up on her doorstep looking beautiful – She threw the door open and Dick turned to make direct – sad – eye contact with her

"I'm so sorry Mac" his hands rested in his pockets

"I already had my date night underwear on but its okay" she tried to deflect the hurt, she was trying to take him in, trying hard to find a missing limb or some physical reason why he had cancelled on her – she found his eyes, his incredibly bloodshot eyes "Are you okay?" his face distorted, his bottom lip dropped as he shook his head and started to cry, she snaked an arm forward as she grabbed his and held his body tightly to hers

"I panicked," he said into her ear, not wanting her to let him go at any point in the near future

"About what?" she slowly released him

"Our date. That I was going to screw everything up, that I was going to live up to all of your dads ideas of the Casablancas name and leave you in a million pieces like my brother did, like my words did all those years ago" his hands returned to his pockets and his eyes looked anywhere that wasn't her eyes, Dick had become a pro at holding in his feelings and instead expressing a nonchalant attitude paired with a joke "And then there was Cassidy, I thought that if we didn't mention him that all the problems that arose between us because of him and the stupid decisions that I made back then, that it wouldn't matter and that we could move on from it all and be happy but who am I kidding? You were his one and only girlfriend, the love of his life. It's been nearly eleven years since he jumped off that roof, imagine if none of that shit went down – imagine what that boy could have amounted to. He could have had the world"

"And you are an idiot" he looked up at her, this outrage threatening to pour out

"For missing my baby brother?"

"For not talking to me about it. You do realise that I know exactly what you are going through? That moment eleven years ago defines me in so many ways too, I miss what he could have been as well"

"Is that what this is to you" he sounded defeated "Am I the representation of the Cassidy that he could've been if I wasn't my namesake? Am I that last connection?"

"Stop" she lifted his head so that they were making eye contact "You are not Cassidy, you are not responsible for what Cassidy became"

"But I could've showed him so god darn compassion" he swung an arm and threw the popcorn bowl across the room, she jumped as he turned his back to her – taking a moment to breath "What am I then?"

"You are Dick Casablancas – you are kind, you are loving, you are hilarious, you are worthy of love and you deserve love"

"How can you think that after all that I put you through back then, all I put Veronica through, all I put Cassidy through?"

"I don't know" he turned to face her, but now it was her turn to avoid eye contact at all costs "It was all such a long time ago, can we really define ourselves on the stupid mistakes we made when we were young? Sure we take responsibility for them and we accept whatever consequences fall upon us because of them but we use them to grow"

"But I was so despicable, I disgust myself"

"How can you not see how much you have changed? Do you honestly think that I would allow myself to fall for the guy that tormented me through high school" he flinched at the word tormented

"How do you know that the old Dick isn't just waiting at the surface ready to turn back into the person that you hated ten years ago?"

"I never hated you"

"What's to say in ten years I wont be the horrible father tormenting our son, making him feel worthless, teaching others to treat him the same way and using it as a bonding experience, tearing down everything that makes him beautiful and unique, spewing poison everywhere I go? It's in my genes Mac, its in my fucked up family genes"

"You may posses some of his traits but you are not your father. In fact you have grown into a man that I respect, that Logan respects, fuck it even Veronica respects you to a certain extent – despite your fathers influence. Back then you were just a vulnerable boy, a boy who sought out the affection of his father because his mother had abandoned him, and you did it the only way you knew how to – by picking on Cassidy. If you were anything like your father you wouldn't have shown remorse for your actions."

"I miss him so much"

"I know" she linked her hand in his "Dick is this for you, just some way to remember Cassidy? To feel closer to him?"

"I wasn't lying that day at the hospital when I told your mum about the crush I had on you in elementary school, Cassidy just knew to act on it sooner – not that what I had to offer back then would have been anything that you would have been interested in, you would have been able to see straight through my bullshit" he laughed "I want you Mac"  
"And I want you"

"Sometimes I wish I had a normal, loving and adoring family like yours"

"We aren't as normal as you might think we are"

To be continued 


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